Round Two
by hatchling
Summary: Hitler is dead, but the Basterds' work is never done. With a new leader, they head back to France to free the man they all are loyal to: Lieutenant Aldo Raine. / Story has an OC and imagination beats even death... Rated for violence
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **I don't own the brilliant characters of the movie Inglourious Basterds, nor the original idea. Ellie is mine and the plot of this story.

**A/N: **OC, but not Mary Sue, don't worry. Just a beginning to se if anyone is interested, so reviews define if I'll continue or not. I hate to throw conditions like this, but I simply don't have a reason to write this if no one reads it... so tell me what you think :)

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**"My name is Eleonore Raine. In short, Ellie. That's what I want you mutts to call me."**

**She paced in front of them with long calm strides, while eyeing the six men she was to lead. **

**"I bet you already know why you're here, but I'm gonna tell you anyway."**

**She stopped to have a look at the lot. She knew them better than they knew. They knew nothing about her, which fit her better than well. The fact that they had an unknown 20-year-old woman as a lieutenant must've been confusing. She almost smiled at the thought, but managed not to. It was good for the men. To learn some respect for those who have earned it. These men had earned theirs, that was for sure. **

**"Years ago, you stood here, on this same spot, listening to a man rant about Nazis. He gave you rules. You obeyed and killed the Nazis. But one lived." **

**The faces of the six men in front of her, and the one almost by his side, hardened if even possible. Hers did too. **

**"Landa. Hans Landa." The name fell from her lips like it was the worst curse in the world. The one word in the universe she did not want to say. Her nose wrinkled and upper lip rose like an angry wolf's would. Then she spit to the ground. "That's how much we think about Hans … Landa." The men growled as if they had something to say about him as well, but resisted the urge. She noticed, took a deep breath and her composure calmed noticeably. There was no need to get them more riled up than they already were, their concentration was needed in listening. **

**"Listen. I need me six men. We're back in business, and our business is killin' Nazis. Just like last time. But now we also have a little more precise mission to accomplish. As you know, we ain't takin' no prisoners. The Nazis do. Right now, they have a prisoner we have to free." **

**The men didn't dare to show their agreement as some of them would've liked to. They had been told about the prisoner, of course, as they had been told about the mission. What they hadn't been told, was who would lead them and how they would do it. **

**"You know the man well. 1st lieutenant Aldo Raine, your former and future leader and my father. So we all wanna get him free, am I right?" **

**The men, with barely hidden surprise, cried: "Yes, sir!" **

**Now Ellie allowed a smile to spread on her face. She turned to look at the man on her left, sergeant Donny Donowitz, The Bear Jew. **

**"Go get your baseball bat. You're gonna need it…" **

**A wolfish grin lightened the man's face. **

**"Yes, ma'am. With pleasure."**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **I still don't own most of the incredible characters of the movie, nor the original idea, I'm just writing for the fun of it.

**A/N: **Well, here we go. This is supposed to explain some of the things that don't make much sense. I know some things still don't add up, but with them you just need to use your imagination a little... This chappy doesn't take the plot much forward, but is still important. I hope you don't find it boring...it seems somewhat OC centric. Damn.

And thanks a lot for the reviews, my motivation still kinda depends on them... Thanks :)

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"I'm sorry, ma'am, but I… How… How are we going to free Lt. Raine?"

Ellie lifted her gaze from the fire she had been stirring when the shy soldier came to her. Allan Hertz was one of the men she had chosen herself to replace the ones who had died during Hitler's times.

"Well, how did the original group free Hugo Stiglitz there?" she asked and shrugged. "I'm not much of a planner, really. If someone has any twistin' ideas, feel free to talk about them, but otherwise we'll just go with a pretty straight forward attack."

Hertz looked bothered, but nodded and turned around to leave. Ellie lifted her brow and stood up, throwing the stick in her hand into the fire. She was curious about why the young soldier looked so tense as he walked away, just to stop dead in his tracks a few meters away. He turned around and took a few steps back towards her then stopping again. He was fidgeting. The whole group was following the situation, mostly with amusement.

"Hertz, what's wrong?" she asked, sounding nothing but curious. One thing her father had thought her: never show your soldiers too much pity or worry. Grown up men don't like it.

Hertz grimaced and scratched the back of his head. He carefully walked a little closer.

"Uh, ma'am… I don't want to sound disrespectful, but you're saying we're going to attack a German prison just like that. We can't possibly… Can we make it?"

Ellie crossed her arms. Hertz opened and closed his mouth few times, successfully forming an image of a fish on dry land. He looked nervous. Ellie couldn't believe she could make someone that nervous. It was rather amusing.

"PFC Allan Hertz…" she begun sinisterly. The man flinched visibly and jumped into attention. Ellie's brow shot up and she blinked. Then she laughed and the rest of the men joined in. "At ease. Look around you, seriously. This group can do more than you seem to believe. And what they're best at? Killin' Nazis. That's what we have to do there."

Hertz relaxed a little and let out a nervous chuckle himself. "Haha… I guess you're right, ma'am. I'm sorry." Ellie shook her head a little.

"Okay, there's two things I want to say to you. One: Stop sayin' sorry all the time. Two: Do not call me ma'am. It makes me feel ancient", she noted. Donny, who was laying on his back by the fire, hummed. "I can imagine", he chuckled. Ellie nodded, mostly at Hertz, and sat back down on the other side of the fire.

"Hertz, I meant it, relax. We probably ain't gonna meet any of those Nazi shit-heads today and you don't have to be afraid of me, you know. I won't bite, even if you don't call me sir, or ma'am or anything as idiotic. Fuck those military terms", she said, humor coloring her voice.

"Especially", a rather surprising person said with his German accent, "when we're not exactly on military business, are we." Ellie froze for a second, before casting the gaze of her dark blue eyes on Hugo Stiglitz.

"No. We ain't."

The woman's confession made Donny sit up and the others shift around them.

"What do you mean we're not on military business?" Smithson Utivich, one of Aldo's original men, wanted to know. Ellie took her time. She bit her lower lip as she thought if their mission had came to an end before it even begun. She took a deep breath, stood up and spread her arms. "I lied to you."

All seven men had their eyes on her, some confused, some curious, some even a little angry. She let her arms drop and shoved them into the pockets of her combat trousers. No going back now.

"I'm a little surprised, really, that non of you saw it earlier - except for Stiglitz, obviously… I am a lieutenant. That part is true, and there would be no way I could've lied about that. But I ain't allowed to lead any military operations. I called you into that meeting we had back in US without permissions from the higher authorities."

Donny frowned and glanced at Stiglitz, who stood still leaning on a tree near by, stone-faced as even, arms stiffly crossed over his wide chest. The Bear Jew huffed and laid back down. "I've got no problem with that. As long as we're doing something about this situation, I don't care who arranged it."

Ellie screamed a silent yes! in her mind and nodded at the man gratefully. Then she looked around at the other faces that still seemed to be waiting for explanation.

"Okay, here's the deal. My father was captured by Landa and his Nazi men, when he was escorting that asshole to his little shitty island. The US military wasn't gonna do anything about it. They think they have tried. They think they have already done everything they can. They think, their part of this war is over since Hitler is dead. They are wrong!" Ellie went on, the volume of her voice rising as she spoke. "I'm not willing to leave my father to be tortured by those Nazi motherfuckers if there's anything I can do about it. He told me once you were his most loyal men. That's why I thought you'd be up to this. And… As long as there is a Nazi with a heartbeat, a basterd's work ain't done."

Donny listened and as Ellie spoke, he couldn't help but to smile. He propped himself up on his elbows and looked at the determined girl in front of him. "Ya got that right… miss Ellie."

Ellie was oddly comforted by those words. She grinned and directed her gaze towards the sky. "Now… We've made it to France. Those of you who wanna leave this operation, I won't hold you back any longer. Get going."

No one budged. Donny, still smiling, laid back down again. Ellie closed her eyes for a moment and sighed silently in relief. She had feared that moment, even though she wouldn't admit it. The moment everything could come crashing down. She only wanted to free her dad. If it meant killing loads of Nazis, it was just extra prize. After that, he could take the lead and if it meant staying in France, killing and scalping _more_ Nazis, it fit her better than well. She just really needed these men if she wanted to even dream about succeeding in her more or less brainless mission.

Smithson Utivich shrugged to himself and sat by the fire, next to Donny. He started poking the slowly dieing fire with a stick he picked from the ground.

"Miss Ellie, I'm with you, absolutely. I'm just wondering how Stiglitz knew about your lie", he said. Ellie huffed and shifted her weight from a foot to another.

"Easily. You all should've known it. Stiglitz is Dutchman, ain't he? Even though Aldo tried to get him a military rank in US army, they didn't grant it. Even after all he did for the resistance. How could he have been called into a US military assembly?"

Utivich, as well as many others, felt like banging their heads to the trees. Of course. Obviously. It was too obvious to be noticed. Kyle Liebermann, the other man Ellie had chosen herself, growled.

"How do you expect us to trust you, little girl, after this bloody lie? I could kill you right here for insulting my honor, then go back home and turn you all in", he barked angrily. Ellie slowly turned to look at him.

"You're sayin' big words", she noted. "But you're forgettin' something. _I still outrank you. _Now, I wonder if there's a reason for that… Should we find out?" she asked nonchalantly and pulled a long knife from it's sheath on her belt. She threw it in the air and caught it without having to look away from Liebermann. She didn't think she was arrogant, but she did trust her fighting skills. She had had to work for her rank. She had earned it and she did not like it when someone implied she hadn't. The man, gray haired, wrinkled and without a doubt experienced military dog, looked tempted to seize the opportunity, but didn't. He shook his head and wandered away, muttering something incoherent to himself. Ellie sheathed the knife and sat back down by the fire.

"Geez. Where did ya find him?" Donny asked her. She shrugged and blew some air out of his lungs.

"From a nursing home?" she suggested wearily. "Really… Aldo mentioned him few times. He said he'd never take the old scarecrow on a mission or anythin', but I saw him shoot at a target with a swastika on it few days before callin' the assembly thingy. I've never seen such fury."

"Second thoughts?" Donny asked, voice muffled by a huge yawn. Ellie shook her head. "Naw. Not yet anyway. We'll have to see how this goes. He might have trouble takin' orders."

Donny nodded to let her know he listened. Ellie narrowed her eyes at him a little and then looked up to a man called Omar Ulmer. He was currently looking through a map of the area they were on, with Wilhelm Wicki.

Ellie had heard about these men. All of them. Aldo had told about them, and how much he trusted them. That was before and after their Nazi-slaying spree in France, of course. For Ellie, Donny Donowitz had been one of the most interesting men. A maniac, so she had heard. Mercilessly slaughtering Nazis with a baseball bat. Oh boy, did she want to meet him. Then he had gone and almost died with Ulmer, at the cinema. It was said to be a pure miracle they survived, though the two themselves said it had nothing to do with miracles. In reality, it was pure speed and brute force. They had realized everyone in the cinema were already dead or dying for the fire, and that the dynamite was about to explode. They had ran and kicked their way through the locked doors. Miracle or not, there they were, alive and well and up for another challenge. Ellie had to admit, she was grateful for the fact.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: **Brilliant characters are not mine. I adore them, so I wanted to use them in a story. Simple as that.

**A/N: **Oh, boy. That must be the longest chapter I've ever written in one go. So, I'm afraid it's boring... Please, tell me if it is! And Utivich might be a trifle OOC, but hopefully it doesn't stand out too much. Some Nazi slaughtering in the chapter...

Thanks for the reviews, I really appreciate them. They, no matter how simple, always brighten the day. They _help._ So, thanks, really.

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Hertz yawned and immediately shook his head to clear it. No sleeping during the night watch. He knew the responsibility he had, as the only one awake. Everyone had their turns, but regardless of the countless times he had had the job, he felt the pride and stress every single time. Night was the best time for the enemy to strike and the fire had to be kept alive. The night watcher had to keep his senses working their fullest. So Hertz straightened his back, brushed the loose strands off his forehead and took the hardest possible expression on his face. He concentrated fully on his surroundings, not letting a single falling leaf go unnoticed.

He heard something shift behind him. He swallowed hard and tensed. It had to be just a bird or something. Yeah, just a bird… But maybe he should check. Before he had the time to turn, he heard that something move just a meter away from him. He jumped up from where he had been sitting and whirled around while doing so. Unfortunately, he was no ballerina. Half way up, he lost his balance and started falling. He barely managed to stifle a yelp when someone grabbed the front of his shirt. He stared at that someone with widened eyes. It was Utivich.

"PC…PF…PCF Utzivi…" Hertz stuttered breathlessly as the other man grimaced. "Stop", he hissed. "Be quiet, there's no need to wake the others." _And no need to rape my name like that either_, a note he left unsaid.

Hertz nodded. Utivich frowned at him. What was that guy anyway, a man or a shrimp of some sort? It was hard to believe that the man, who was currently hanging in his grip, was someone Ellie had chosen to be a part of the team. Utivich seriously started to doubt her sanity. And his, for that matter.

Hertz finally regained some control over his legs and stood up. Utivich let go of his shirt, lifted his gun from the ground and sat down by the fire.

"You're free to go to sleep… It's my turn", he said. Hertz nodded again shakily, and cleared his throat. "I'm sorry, sir."

Utivich stared after him as he crawled under his blanket, to sleep. Unbelievable guy… What in the world made him so nervous? He was, without a doubt, one of the strangest guys Utivich had ever met.

After a while of uneventful fire-poking shift, Utivich could hear a sound of an engine getting closer. He froze for a second and just listened to make sure he wasn't mistaken. No, the noise kept coming closer. He shot up and hurried to wake Ellie.

"You sure?" she asked, fully awake after Utivich's brief explanation. The man nodded. "Listen."

She slowly nodded her head. She could hear it, too. She took her green military cap and somehow tamed her long hair under it. Then she kicked Donny sharply. "Every one up, now. We have work to do."

Donny stirred with a groan and forced himself up. He managed to get on his feet. "What's up?"

"Someone's coming. We ought to give that someone a little welcomin' party."

Donny's face lightened up and it didn't take long for the team to be ready to go.

The Basterds hid in the bushes either side of the road. They had camped within about fifty meters from it, just to hear if someone happened to pass by. It seemed like they had made the right decision. There was a car and a truck nearing them rather slowly. They could hear yelling and laughing in German. Donny, who was crouched next to Ellie, patted her shoulder lightly.

"What's the plan?" he asked. Ellie signed him to lean closer and briefed him on her plan. He grinned and chuckled silently. "I thought you said you weren't much of a planner."

Ellie shrugged and smiled a bit. "I ain't. This is woman's logic."

The green car, decorated with a swastika on it's side, was almost there and it was time for Ellie to put her plan on execution.

Adelbert Bachman was tired but pleased. The Nazi patrol's drive had been peaceful so far and the edge of the forest was close, and the sun would rise soon. He had been a little nervous to go to the woods, where the American Nazi-killers had once roamed free. Not like he had really believed all the stories about them, oh no. He was too clever to buy such stupid scary tales. Besides, the leader of the so called Basterds, Aldo the Apache, had been captured. So, no need to worry, right? Still, it was rumored, that the ghosts of the Bear Jew and the other Basterd who had died in the explosion of the cinema, were haunting Nazis in France. That of course was too thick for him to believe, too, but it never hurt to be cautious. The other men had settled with taking few encouraging sips of whiskey. He wouldn't have minded either, but the rule was no drinks for the driver.

Suddenly Adelbert Bachman heard a pained cry and felt something collide with the car. He quickly hit the breaks.

"What the… What are you doing? Why did you stop?" someone from the backseat wanted to know. Bachman sat still, squeezing the steering wheel so hard his knuckles turned white. He had hit someone. Wait… Who could be wandering around the woods so early in the morning?

He reluctantly let go of the steering wheel and stepped out of the car. The others did the same. "Bachman, what … Oh my…"

There was a woman laying in front of the car, seemingly unconscious. Her clothes were ripped and dirty, and dark brown, almost black hair covered parts of her face.

As the passengers of the little car only stood still and stared, the driver of the truck jumped out of his vehicle. "Bachman! You can't stop that suddenly, I almost hit your… Oh." He didn't stop to stare, but frowned and crouched next to her.

"I hit her", Adelbert mumbled. "Is she dead?" The other driver shook his head in annoyance. Useless bunch of sissies.

"No, she's not dead. You moron. How did you not notice she was on your way?" he demanded. Bachman lifted his hands up in surrender. "It was dark. No need for that tone, Becker."

"I'll talk to you with whatever tone I want", the truck driver, Becker, said angrily.

"You think so?" Bachman growled back.

Ellie had to fight not to smile. She couldn't understand a word they were saying around her, but the pressure was clear. They were bickering… Perfect. Time to confound the situation a little more.

"Yes, I think so! Shut up", Becker yelled and pushed the other man further. Bachman didn't like being pushed around. He lifted his fist and was more than ready to smash Becker's jaw, but stopped when someone said: "I think she's waking up…"

The drivers both turned to see and indeed, she was stirring with soft groans. One of the men helped her to sit up. "Tack så mycket… Härregud, var är jag?"

The Nazi soldiers shared glances and Bachman spoke: "Eh… Miss, do you speak German?" Ellie settled with giving him her best just-a-dumb-helpless-woman look. It worked, too. The confusion melted into something else, something softer.

"Now what do we do?" Becker asked, irritation still evident in his voice.

"I'll tell you what you will do", Becker's brow furrowed and he was about to turn around to look at whoever had spoken, but decided to stay still when cold metal touched the back of his head. Bachman whirled around, ready to defend himself or whoever needed to be defended, but Ellie was quick to pull out her knife and gun.

"Stop right there", she ordered in English. It was not too hard to understand and the German froze. Stiglitz, the man behind Becker, told all the Nazis to drop their weapons and line up in front of him. Utivich, Wicki and Liebermann were taking care of the enemies in the truck.

When the Nazis were standing in front of her in a neat line, Ellie sighed happily. Their first face-off with them was a success and she felt confident, and wished her men were happy with it, too.

"Donny! How's it goin' back there?" she called.

"Perfect! We have four fuckers here", came the reply.

"It makes nine of them. That's good. Remember, I want them all-" she was interrupted by the sound of gunfire. Her heart skipped a beat and she readied the gun she had taken from one of the Germans. Ulmer also aimed to the direction of the truck now. If Donny, or Utivich, of Wicki, or even Liebermann was hurt…

"Donny?! Wicki!" Ellie yelled sharply.

"Shit..! What the fuck is your problem?" the first mentioned Jew's yell could be heard. Ellie lowered her gun, but didn't relax. "What the hell happened there", she mumbled and went to check it out. She groaned at the sight that greeted her. Two Nazis lay in one bloody heap on the ground. Donny and Utivich stood by the two remaining enemies, where as Liebermann's gun was still aimed at the corpses.

"Dammit Liebermann", Ellie exclaimed. "I told you not to kill them yet. Which part of it was so hard to understand?"

Liebermann's gaze jerked up from the bodies. "We came here to kill the Nazis. Kill them! Not to spare their pathetic lives! No mercy to the Nazis!"

The old man looked outrageous. It was the same kind of rage Ellie had seen in US, before the assembly. This time it seemed to be directed to anything that happened to be on his way, and she did not like it. She just might have made a serious mistake, bringing him along. It wasn't the right moment to think about it, though. Now she just had to get the man under control.

"We ain't here to show mercy. It seems to be the word 'yet' you didn't understand, huh…" she said. "But you ain't gonna do that again. Ever. As long as you're a part of my team, you listen to me and obey my rules. If I say we need information and you will not kill them yet, you don't."

"You arrogant little…" Liebermann's rage for the Germans seemed to have eased a bit. Now he concentrated on staring at the young Lieutenant as angrily as possible. She stared back firmly. Donny and Utivich shared a quick glance. Both, as well as Wicki, could sense the tension of the situation, and remained silent. The Germans weren't as sensible. One laughed openly as the other whimpered in apparent fear. He looked about ready to wet his pants. Donny poked the laughing man in the head with the back of his gun and both Liebermann and Ellie turned to look at the man. He sure as hell didn't feel like laughing anymore. It wasn't a funny at all.

"Miss Ellie? Is everything alright?" called Hertz's shaky voice.

"Yeah, we'll be right there", Ellie answered. "Oh-kay… Let's get away from the road. The sun is rising."

The walk to the camp didn't take long even with the stumbling, reluctant Nazis they had to drag along. Resistance ceased noticeably when a mad, big Jew prodded them with a baseball bat though, so it wasn't that bad. The next thing to do, was to get some information out of Nazi. Let the fun begin.

"Well, ain't this nice!" Ellie said. She sat on a rock by the now very much fireless fireplace. The Germans were on their knees on the other side of it, with Utivich and Hertz's guns on their heads. Seven enemies. That was seven too much. But the information one of these seven could give, was crucial to their mission. Still…

"I think there might be too many of them. Utivich…two", Ellie said simply. The Jew understood and shoot two of them with pleasure. Remaining five Nazis cringed and most looked away. Ellie nodded in approval. "Good. Let's get down to business.

"You know we ain't takin' no prisoners. You either die or talk. Some of you might not have a chance, too bad." As Ellie spoke, Wicki translated her words into German. At this point, some of the Nazis were in tears. Ellie looked at each in turn and spotted the one who hadn't likely shitted his pants yet. She knew the guy. He was the one who had been about to fight before she had 'woken up'. She picked a little rock from the ground and threw it at him. "You, come here."

With a little encouraging push from Hertz, the man trudged to her. "English?"

The German shook his head. Wicki was already there. "Ask his name." Wicki did as he was told. He didn't need to translate the answer, because the German said nothing else but his name: Walther Becker.

"Becker, huh… I noticed you had some hassle with your friend back there. Anyway, what I want to know is simple. Where is Aldo Raine?"

Becker closed his eyes and snorted. He mumbled something so blurred, Wicki had trouble catching it.

"Apparently he's telling you to go fuck yourself", he eventually said. Ellie lifted a brow in amusement. "Is he, now."

The look in Becker's tear filled eyes was one of the devils when he looked at her. He spit to the ground and mumbled something more. "…Or your Jew rats", Wicki said. Ellie chuckled and Basterds laughed as well.

"Yeah, as soon as you tell me where Lt. Raine is", she said. Becker shook his head. Nein. She understood that. She sighed. She was about to call Donny, but the look in Stiglitz's eyes caught her. It was as if he was begging to get to kill the disrespecting kraut. "Stiglitz? He's all yours."

As the Dutch-born Basterd, unarmed, walked towards Becker, he stumbled few steps backwards and fell. Stiglitz grabbed his shirt collar, pulled him up, turned him around and wrapped an arm around his neck. Tight. Becker struggled and clawed the bigger Jew's arm, but it was no use. In few seconds he was choked to dead.

The Basterds whistled and cheered. The Nazis looked plain terrified. Then, probably out of habit, Stiglitz crouched by the corpse and scalped it. Old habits die hard, Ellie thought. Not that she minded. She narrowed her eyes and nodded at another Nazi from the line. Familiar. The other brawler. "That one, Utivich."

This one was almost paralyzed with fear, but managed to get few steps forward. Then he saluted. Ellie's brow rose.

"At ease", she chuckled. "English?" He said something, and it took Ellie a while to understand what it was. _Just a bit, but not well. _

"Well, we don't want no misunderstandings. Sit down, will ya." The man did as he was told. "What's your name? And do you want to get outta here alive?"

"Adelbert Bachman. Yes ma'am…" was the shaky answer.

"Good. Then tell me one thing. Where are your fellows keeping Aldo Raine?" Bachman swallowed hard, barely listening to Wicki's translation. He understood. He just couldn't tell. He mumbled something in German.

"He doesn't think he can do it to his own, to his country", Wicki said. Ellie had seen that coming.

"What use will you be to your country dead?" She questioned. "I mean, you would be the only living man who knows we're here… Sure, it'd cost a few Nazi-lives and a prisoner, but it could be worth it."

Bachman stayed silent, but Ellie could see she had him. She sighed and leaned back. "No? Okay. Donny… Do it."

The Bear Jew swung his bat experimentally and started slowly walking towards Bachman. He wasn't stupid, he knew what the young lieutenant had in mind. He gave the kraut some time…

"Wait."

Donny stopped and Ellie's brow twitched.

"Give me a map", Wicki translated a German statement with a smile on his face.

Bachman cried bitter tears as he pointed the spot. He told everything he knew about the place, about the guards and the armament. He felt like a bloody traitor.

"Good! Now we don't need you three anymore", Ellie said and as she spoke, Utivich let his gun sing. Bachman grimaced at the sound and prayed to whatever was holy for their forgiveness. Ellie stood up and stretched her back.

"Ulmer… I hear you're the best with maps, so you are the navigator. We'll leave as soon as we get everything gathered around here." Omar Ulmer saluted briefly and took the map Wicki offered him. Ellie looked around the camp and Bachman, still on the ground, caught her eye. She frowned.

"I thought you said you didn't want to die", she mused. The German shook his head in fear. "Then what the fuck are you still doing here?"

In a split second, he was running away as fast as his legs could carry. Ellie grinned. Her grin widened when she noticed her men scalping the dead Nazis.

"Just something to bring back to your old man, miss Ellie. If you don't mind", Donny said. It almost sounded as if he wanted her permission.

"Of course..! He'll be pleased to see you haven't been veggin' out while his unfortunate absence", she stated. The Basterds laughed. It had been a good morning altogether. Very good. Now to save Aldo.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: **I adore Quentin Tarantino. And Til Schweiger. And Eli Roth, and B.J. Novak and all the other people who are responsible for these characters and the original idea, but I can assure you... I ain't one of them. I'm just borrowing. And I sure as hell ain't making any money with this.

**A/N:** Another uneventful chapter... The next one shall be more interesting, this probably ain't. This one will reveal something you might want to know, so try to bare with me.

Thanks for the rewievs eveningthought and TheInvincibleKay. MORE. Thanks :D

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Ellie couldn't sleep. She tried, but no matter how tired she was, the warm comfort of sleep refused to come and save her from her racing mind. She couldn't stop thinking about what she had done. She felt like she had abandoned, even banished the last bits of humanity in her. And it didn't bother her. That did bother her.

She was in a war, she knew it better than well. She had been taught to be cruel to her enemies, and she was good at it. But many of the higher rank officers, and some of the lower, questioned her capability in a real situation. They thought that because she was a woman, and so young even, she couldn't handle brutal killing. For them it was obvious. That's what made her think…why did it not effect her more than that?

It was frustrating. She didn't want to think about it, but it didn't leave her alone. Eventually she just sat up and buried her face in her hands. After a moment she lifted her gaze and looked around. All the men were asleep, except for Stiglitz, who had the night shift. The man gave her a brief glance when she froze to stare at him for a moment. She got up and went to sit to the opposite side of the fire in silence. Ellie was somewhat surprised to hear him break it.

"Can't sleep?" he asked in voice that wasn't much louder than a whisper. Ellie shook her head. Stiglitz threw a stick into the fire. "It's not an easy job you are having."

"No", the woman chuckled quietly. "But it ain't only that."

Stiglitz was now looking at her, expressionlessly, but it was like…a permission to tell him what was in her mind. She snorted. "I told you a while ago, that I ain't allowed to lead any military operations. I understand it. If I was to decide for someone my age and gender, I wouldn't let them either. There's a good reason for it. Women my age are supposed to be… more compassioned and less tolerant towards the bloody messes war causes, slaughters and especially the ridiculous gore you perform. I just don't mind it. I don't. I wonder what's wrong with me." Her voice was barely audible, but Stiglitz heard it well and understood even better. He only nodded. Ellie hadn't expected to get an answer.

"Your father might have something to do with it", he eventually said. "How did you know I was born in the Netherlands?"

"I made a full background check on y'all. I couldn't see it at first, you were so little when you moved to Germany", Ellie answered. "I guess you would say you're as much German as you are Dutch, huh."

Stiglitz's upper lip twitched. "I used to, with pride. Not anymore."

"Understandable", Ellie hummed. Stiglitz grunted quietly and silence enveloped them again. It lasted long, until someone groaned near by. Ellie turned quickly to look at the direction of the voice, and saw Donny tossing and turning on his bedroll. She frowned and looked as he turned to his right side, curled into a fatal position and remained still. Well, still if you didn't count shaking and occasional twitching. Ellie glanced at Stiglitz and noticed he was looking at the sleeping Jew as well. Then he turned his attention back to the fire and Ellie could've sworn she saw him sigh.

"Nightmares", she mumbled to herself. It was said every soldier had them every now and then. Because of all the terrible things they have to do. For some reason, she was convinced Donny's nightmares had nothing to do with killing Nazis. "Is he gonna be okay?"

Stiglitz nodded. "He's had them every now and then as long as I've known him." Ellie looked at the so called Bear Jew again. The man had been just as interesting as she had thought. Somewhat noisy, but fair. Excited when there was a chance of action, direct and even a tiny bit cocky. And he seemed so reliable. The nightmares, well, reminded her he was a human, not a bear, or a Golem, as the Germans rumored. The Germans, for God's sake, where had they left their brains?

Suddenly Ellie realized just how tired she was. She sighed, ran her fingers through her hair - having to fight them through the unbelievable amount of knots - and stood up. "I'm goin' to sleep. It might be easier now… Whose turn is it next?"

Stiglitz answered by nodding his head towards Donny. "I'll let him sleep."

Ellie smiled a bit. "Right… G'nite." A nod.

Again, Utivich had the morning shift. The sun was slowly rising and the young soldier watched it in silence. He had let the fire burn out just a moment ago, knowing they would move out as soon as the morning came. It was there now. He yawned once and stood up to wake the others.

"It never gets easier", Ellie murmured as she threw her blanket aside. She was bad at waking up. No matter how long she had practiced. Not that she had a choice, and thinking about how close they were to freeing Aldo gave her strength.

"Gah. Okay, boys. Let's get movin'. To Nadine."

* * *

Hans Landa was not having the best day of his life.

Definitely not. In fact, it hadn't been easy to follow in the footsteps of Hitler. As the new "Führer", he had first had to deal with the mess Hitler's death had left behind. Landa's first mission had been to win the German soldiers over. How? Well, it helped that he had brought a captive like Aldo the Apache. And that he had already gathered a small, loyal Nazi army during Hitler's times. His polite cruelty had of course been rumored about among the Nazi soldiers for years, so most even feared him. So he had managed to make himself the new Führer, leader of the Fourth Reich, as he called it.

What made the particular day so bad, was the information he got from a frightened soldier. At the moment, he was on his way to meet the unfortunate man.

"Private Adelbert Bachman, am I right?" Landa asked in a sweet tone, that sent chills down Bachman's spine. "Yes, sir."

They were in the Nazis' military headquarters in Paris, France. Landa preferred the country over Germany for some reason. Maybe it was the good memories.

"Do you know why you are here?"

"Yes, sir", Bachman said. He was fingering his hat on his lap nervously. He felt like a mouse caught in a cat's grasp. Trapped. Landa looked at the soldier calmly.

"Tell me about yesterday", he prodded. Bachman didn't know what to say. It would have been practically a suicide to tell what he had told, but he had to warn Landa. He could save German lives by doing it.

"The Basterds ambushed us. Our patrol", he eventually said. Landa's brow lifted.

"Oh? Well, I must say, that sounds very interesting. Please tell me more", he encouraged. He sounded… excited. Bachman cringed. He didn't like the tone, but explained the happenings anyway, to the point when they were taken to the camp. He didn't know how to continue.

"Very interesting indeed", Landa mumbled. Please, continue. They wanted to ask you some questions, no doubt."

"Yes, they… they killed two and took Becker forward. He wouldn't answer, so they killed him, too", Bachman told shakily. "Eventually they killed everyone but me."

"Obviously", Landa nodded. "And likely so you could spread the word about them?"

"Yes. And they are planning on freeing Aldo Raine", Bachman hurried to say.

"Hmm. Is that so… I have a few questions if you don't mind", Landa said, with a thoughtful frown on his face. He leaned forward. "Now, you're saying the Basterds ambushed you. One: the Basterds are dead, with the exception of two men, of whom one is our prisoner.

"Another thing is, even if they were alive, they couldn't possibly free Lt. Raine. They wouldn't know where he is."

Bachman swallowed a lump of tight fear. "Sir, I know the Basterds are supposed to be dead, but I really saw them. I don't know how, but… They are alive. Some of them anyway, I recognized Hugo Stiglitz and the Little Man, and the Bear… Eh, Donny Donowitz. And the woman was their leader", he told truthfully everything he knew.

Landa's eyes narrowed a bit. What was the soldier uttering? It couldn't be true. But he couldn't afford to take the risk. Whoever the soldier had seen, Basterds or not, they had to be taken care of.

"Very well, Adelbert. I trust your eyes. But there's still the other matter. I get the feeling you're not telling me everything", Landa scolded, sounding like a father talking to a misbehaving son, rather than a soldier's commanding officer.

Bachman's hat ripped when he tugged at it too hard. He was too frightened to notice. He wanted to cry, but refused to. Not now. "Sir, I don't…" he mumbled. "I can't… I don't know."

"Adelbert. There's one thing I learned about the Basterds when they were running around last time. If they left someone alive, they always wanted something in return. Now, you see it's no use lying anymore", Landa said and smiled. For Bachman, it was the grin of death. He let out a sharp breath and closed his eyes.

"They know… Because I told them. I thought I should be alive to tell you about them", he said. If he was going to die there, he could at least take it like a proud German soldier he was. Regardless of the situation, he felt like a heavy load would've been lifted from his shoulders. Then… Landa chuckled.

"You did the right thing."

Bachman opened his eyes in shock. The right thing? He had thought so, but never believed Landa would, too. His confusion was apparently visible, for Landa's smile widened. "You told them. It's bad. It's a crime I should get you shot for. But if they are anything like the Basterds I knew, they would've gotten the information anyway, in a way or another."

Bachman stared. Would he really make it out of the room alive?

"Now I can get ready for them. I'll make sure their plan fails. Well done, Adelbert. You may return to your duties."

Bachman stood up so fast the chair almost fell over. He had made it alive from his encounter with the Basterds, and even with der Führer..! "Thank you, sir", he said, saluted and hurried out of the room.

Landa looked after him and the smile on his lips died. The Basterds. The Rat army. Rats were… varmint. He took the receiver of the phone he had on his desk.

"Warn the prison near…what was it…Oh, yes, Nadine. They'll be expecting some unwanted visitors."


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: **The brilliance called Inglourious Basterds is still not mine. Ellie is. And Hertz. And Liebermann, though I'm not sure if I want him. No, scratch that, I love them too, but unfortunately, my skill in writing a character shouldn't even be mentioned in the same sentence with Quentin Tarantino, the rightful owner of the movie and the characters I'm writing about. Thank you, Quentin. Thank you,

**A/N: **Oh-kay, on with the story. First off, my **deepest apologies**. This is not a good chapter, I suck at writing action scenes, and this caused me _trouble. _A little writers block, if that's what it's called. I didn't know how to process. But I scribbled something and wish I get comments about it. Honest ones. Thanks for the reviews :) !

* * *

Ellie was a little nervous. She couldn't deny it, neither could she really admit it either… She put her hands on her hips, licked her lips and frowned so Aldo-like, that it made Donny chuckle.

"Is there a problem, miss Ellie?" he asked. Ellie lifted her browns as she turned to look at him. "Huh?"

"The last time I saw an expression like that, we were speaking Italy in a movie premiere", he said. Ulmer snorted. "Speaking Italy… You couldn't pronounce your names."

"Hey, hey, hey, you can't be the best in everything, can ya?" Donny laughed. Ellie only half listened to them. The prison could be seen from where she was standing. It was small and decrepit, without any watchtowers or places for snipers.

"Hey chief", Donny said, calling her by the name he used every now and then, making Ellie feel something between flattered and flustered (though she just passed it with a shrug). "Why does that place look like it could fall apart any second? Wouldn't they keep someone like lieutenant in a fancier place?" Ellie took a deep breath.

"Can't be sure", she admitted. "But I assume there can be two reasons for this here. Bigger, fancier prisons are more public. What happens inside their walls is better known, world wide. They don't want people to know what happens here. That's bad."

The Basterds were awfully quiet. "And the other possibility?" Utivich asked.

"The Nazi asshole lied", Ellie said. Utivich grimaced. "I don't know which one to wish for…" Ellie shook his head. She didn't know either.

"Wishin' won't do us any good. Let's go and find out", Donny said. The men mumbled in agreement and Ellie snorted but agreed, too. "Yeah… Let's get him outta there."

* * *

Martin Kunz was bored. His job was one that no one in their right minds would want: standing outside an old prison with a gun in hand, listening to the screaming echoing from the inside. Not all the time of course, but most of the time. During Hitler, the place was abandoned, but Landa had taken it to use again. Kunz shuddered. There was one of the cruelest men he had ever known.

Quite surprisingly, the place wasn't too well secured. Maybe Landa trusted no one would know about it. The chances were, no one even cared. Most of the prisoners were men who had nothing left for them. No families, they had been killed. No friends, killed, too. To make the pain as bad as possible. Good as it was, it kept allies away as well as enemies, which made a guards work boring. Boring and tiring. Then suddenly, out of nowhere, emerged a bullet and ended the boring shift.

The shooter, Ulmer as it happened, ran to the corpse and went through the pockets. The keys. He cracked opened the wooden door Donny or Stiglitz could've easily kicked into pieces, and peeked in carefully. Then he signed for the others to come.

"There's no one in the corridor, but the gunshot must've alarmed the guards", he mumbled. Ellie let the frown on her face again. Something was not right.

Of course, the Nazi soldier then had freed the other day had warned them… But why no guards, instead of lots of guards? The Nazis knew who they were coming for. It must've meant they were guarding him extra carefully. Maybe… Or it might have been a trap. Lure them into the maze and shoot like rats? Rats. How ironic. Rats were some of the smartest animals there is… The corner of Ellie's mouth twitched and she stifled a chuckle. Utivich had told how Landa went on about Jew-rats after they, or Aldo with his knife, had 'marked' him. Meaning, carved a swastika on his forehead. Landa want's rats? Lets give him some.

"Oh-kay, listen for a bit", Ellie said in a quiet voice. "We should assume this is a trap. We shouldn't just run in to get ourselves killed, now, should we…"

* * *

Ellie, Liebermann and Stiglitz were slowly making their way along the dim corridor. Elli and the Dutchman were calm and pretty much silent, but Liebermann was twitchy. He even grumbled out loud intermittently, and each time Ellie felt like snapping at him. But instead of silencing the old man, it probably would have caused more noise. It was just hard to ignore… Another thing hard to ignore, was the screaming. Although it was beneficial in order for them to stay unnoticed, it was also slightly disturbing.

Windowless and stone cold prison walls made Ellie anxious. She had never been good with tight places, so much to her relief, the corridor seemed to be nearing it's end. It opened up to a little more spacious room. There were doorways to apparently three more corridors, each too dark to be seen to. As soon as the Nazi guard behind his desk saw them stepping out of the darker corridor, he started yelling and reached for his gun. Needless to say, Stiglitz was faster.

Another two Germans ran from one of the three doorways, firing without knowing the target. Liebermann had no trouble shooting them. Could it really be that easy? Ellie didn't sacrifice thoughts to it any more than that. The room was silent now, even the screams had quieted down.

All three Basterds were still holding their guns at ready, eyeing the doorways more or less suspiciously.

"Let's split up", Liebermann spat out and took few steps towards the one closest to him. Ellie reached to hold him back.

"No way, we ain't splitting up. We're all going", she said.

"Which one?" Stiglitz asked.

"Fuckin' labyrinth", Ellie cursed under her breath. "The left one. That's where those two scumbags came from, anyway." She nodded towards the two clueless, now dead, Nazis. "There has to be something."

No objections, not that she would've listened to any, and they headed to the left doorway. Just as they had all assumed, there was another corridor. Perfect. It was much shorter than the previous one and in the end of it, there were no guards. Only cells. Empty ones.

No, they weren't all empty. Ellie frowned and went closer to see if she had seen wrong. No, there was a woman in the closest cell, laying on the floor, unmoving. Ellie's frown deepened. "She's dead."

A sudden heart-breaking cry rang from the next cell. 'No', the voice cried. Ellie turned to look and saw a young man, equally laying on the floor, but alive. In pain.

"She can't be dead, _please",_ he pleaded in tears. He had a heavy French accent. Ellie hummed briefly and softly. "She's dead, I can't help it."

The man started howling in agony. He was starved, bloody and obviously just lost someone he cared about. His next plea confirmed the assumption. "Kill me."

Ellie shook her head. "Stiglitz, you got the keys? Good. We'll let the poor fellow to see his woman and then he can do whatever he sees suitable", she said and so it happened. The man held the corpse for a moment and repeated his request, while Ellie was looking around the room for anything that might help them find Aldo. She didn't lift her gaze from the drawer she was going through, but nodded. "If that's what he wants… Stiglitz."

With a single gunshot, the couple was together again. It warmed Ellie a little from the inside. Their tragic story… Whatever the woman had died for, starvation or the injuries the torture had caused, the Nazis were responsible. It added her anger and squeezed her heart with the cold hand of fear. Aldo hadn't been there as long as the couple had seemed to be, but long enough…for what, she didn't know. Or even want to think about.

"Miss Ellie?" a very familiar voice called. She turned around and saw Donny at the door.

"Oh, hi", she greeted and threw the useless papers she had dug from the drawer over her shoulder. She was careful not to show it, but she felt more comfortable when Donny was around. His confidence was heartening. "You found something?"

"Well, kinda", Donny frowned. "We found the back entrance, and found ourselves from the middle of an emergency meeting… something about some Basterds heading here, whoever they are", he grinned, "Then we found this nice Nazi guy, who was willing to show us how to find lieutenant from this hellhole."

"That's a lot of findin'", Ellie said. "You got the guy still breathing?"

"Of course. He's useful. Very co-operative", Donny said, still grinning. This made a little smile light her face, too. "Well, good."

They went back to the biggest room. The rest of the Basterds were there, with a German soldier, who was pretty much weeping. Ellie stared at him. He stared at the floor. The others waited. Ellie lifted a brow. "Why are we still here?"

The Nazi flinched and looked up to Wicki, who translated her question. The Nazi took a hasty, sharp breath and looked around just as hastily. Then he pointed at the doorway on the right. He took a hesitant step towards it, but Stiglitz poked him with his gun. The German froze.

"Don't be so goddamn hasty", Ellie said. "You won't be going first, to warn your kraut friends over there."

"I'll go", Ulmer said and after Ellie's brief nod, he headed to the corridor. The Nazi-helper followed with Stiglitz's gun on his back, then came Ellie and the rest of the Basterds in random order.

It didn't take long before Ulmer stopped. The corridor was ending, and they couldn't just ran in, blasting. They couldn't afford to hit anyone else but the guards. Suddenly, the whole place was silent. No screams of some unfortunate prisoners, no footsteps of a nervous Nazi guard. Men held their breaths. And then suddenly… "Who the hell are you?"

They all recognized the voice. It was raspy and a bit muffled, but the accent was something so familiar to all of them. Even Liebermann and Hertz could see the connection. The way he spoke so much like Ellie. Aldo.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: **I don't own the masterpiece, not a part of it.

**A/N:** Wth, my chapters are short as hell...Okay, honestly, this chapter sucks. I'm really sorry, I'm so bad with the action scenes, as I said... I had huge trouble with this, it took me forever to finish. I've had this, but I was too unsure to post it. Now I just thought, hell, I'm gonna have to do it sooner or later...  
For it was so goddamn difficult, I'd seriously appreciate **criticism and comments**. About how I do with the characters and the situations. THANK YOU :)

* * *

Ellie had to fight not to run out to see him the moment she heard his voice. She couldn't do that. What if there were guards in the room? They needed Aldo's help now, and luckily the lieutenant was anything but slow. Ulmer took half a step forward, but Aldo's casual voice stopped him.

"Wait, I see ya. Don't come here now, listen first." The Basterds were still holding their breaths and their Nazi guide bit on his hand to stay silent. "There's a guard on your left. He's a real curt kraut. Doesn't appreciate my effort in staring conversation… Doesn't understand a word I say, as a matter of fact. But I've been persistent." This piece of information explained his conversational tone. The guard must have believed he was chatting with him.

"The cells are right in front of you. On your right, there's a door to this meeting room or somethin' like that, but I bet you already knew that…" Aldo said with an obvious smile. "So, what're you waitin' for?"

They heard someone talk angrily in German and Aldo snort. "You too, dipshit."

Ulmer glanced at Ellie for orders. No, not orders. Nor instructions. He knew what he had to do, he just wanted Ellie's approval. She gave it in a form of a nod, and Ulmer jumped out of the corridor, facing left and firing. Hertz and Utivich moved quickly to the meeting room's door, to make sure no one would barge in from there.

Ellie kept her eyes on her father, but poked Stiglitz on his side. "The keys", she mumbled. She barely registered when he pressed them on her palm. Aldo looked…unrecognizable.

His hair was a mess of dirty brown knots and his beard had grown out. He had lost weight and his clothes were bloody. Ellie's first reaction was shock, but her senses weren't far behind. There was no time for this. She sighed inwardly for how many times during the mission she had had to tell herself that.

"Ellie, what the fuck are you doing here?" Aldo asked with a deep frown as Ellie was opening the door of is cell.

"Love you too, daddy", she answered in light, playful tone. Then she heard the lock click and chuckled in happiness. Donny went in to the cell, to help Aldo on his feet. He was the only one in the cells.

"You alright, Lieutenant?" Donny asked. Aldo took a deep breath, but didn't look pained. "I'm perfect. Goddamn perfect. Let's get outta here."

"Yeah", Ellie agreed. "Just a second. Wicki, our guide has been neglected. How 'bout you tell him to go to that little cell over there and lock him in. He's been a big help." She threw the keys and Wicki caught them and did as he was told. The Nazi, having no choice, obeyed. Then they were ready to go.

Right after they made it to the main room, they heard running footsteps and yelling from behind the wall. Behind the wall..? Right…A real labyrinth then.

"They're after us. We gotta hurry", Aldo said. He didn't sound that worried, really.

"Go straight. That's where we came from. Just straight forward", Ellie said and halted. She leaned her back against the wall, facing the three doorways. Aldo was not in shape to ran fast enough. He would have to hide, wait until the Germans were guided away and then hurry for the entrance. Exit, in this case.

"Aldo, hide", she said simply.

"Where, I'm supposed to crawl hidin' under a desk, like some rascal after mischief?" he asked halfheartedly.

"You've been inglorious for a pretty fucking long time, this is a wrong moment to change it. Besides, ain't that what you are?" Ellie said laughingly. Aldo snorted and nodded slowly. "Point taken. Utivich, help me out here."

Ellie loaded her gun. The Nazis were going to be there any second and she needed to be ready when they did. Ready to run and fire.

"Donny", she said, stated, without a real reason.

"Right here, miss. Ellie", the Jew answered. Ellie paused for a split second to reconsider what she was about to say.

"Utivich and Hertz'll help Aldo out. Liebermann, Stiglitz and Ulmer, head to the exit now. Clear the way. Donny and Wicki, get ready to run with me", Ellie dealt the commands incredibly quickly, and she could barely finish before Liebermann, Ulmer and Stiglitz were on their way. Utivich and Aldo were hidden and when the first Nazis could be seen nearing from the right doorway, Donny, Wicki and herself flashed through the middle one.

"This the one you came from?" Ellie asked as they ran. Another dark corridor. Lovely.

"Yeah", Donny answered. "Leads into the meeting room thing."

"Great", Ellie said.

The meeting room's door was open and the trio ran straight in. Each wall had a door on them. The long table didn't leave much space by the walls. Donny and Ellie turned to face the open door while Wicki kept his eyes on the opposite wall. To secure their backs. And it was a good thing he did, because soon the door he was facing flew open and the room was flooding Nazis.

For a moment, Ellie couldn't see or hear anything, but her gun and enemies. The sound of gunfire and the smell of powder. It wasn't her shooting.

It was someone else in her body. It felt as if she was looking at it through someone else's eyes. Maybe that was why is felt so easy. Maybe it was the reason she was so confident, she knew the person shooting knew what she was doing. And in the end, in situations like the one they were in, the party with more luck would make it through.

And their luck hadn't ran out. All three were standing when the last Nazi fell. They were panting and Donny yelled to drain the rest of his adrenaline. "Fuck yeah! That's it baby!"

Ellie laughed a bit and huffed. "Whoa, yeah. Hope the others didn't get anyone after them. Wicki, you okay?"

"I'm good", the German born Jew answered. Ellie frowned. Something about his tone cried '_LIE!'_ in her ears. She turned around to see with her own eyes and her brows rose near the hairline. "'Good'?"

Wicki's forearm was bloody and he held it against his chest. "Yes, good."

Ellie's brow remained high as she bit her lip. "Right."

"A bullet just pierced the muscle, it's not bad", Wicki told. Right. Not bad. Ellie dropped the subject, even though she was certain the wound needed medical attention. With her medical skills she would've only made it worse, and Wicki was definitely one of those men who didn't want to make a number of themselves.

"You know the best… Let's get movin' again, I wanna know if others made it out alright."

They went through the backdoor, literally through, because Donny hadn't been too patient with the entering. Hertz's lock picking had been way too slow in his opinion. They walked around the building and saw Utivich waving at them from the bushes that surrounded the whole area. They ran the rest of the way.

"Y'all seem to be okay", Ellie noted, much to her relief. Aldo, who was sitting on a tree trunk (God knows why Nazis had ever decided to cut trees), looked at her from under his brow.

"You're leadin' a team of US military turncoats", he stated.

"So it seems", Ellie shrugged. She was too happy for their success to mind his almost accusing tone. Besides, she knew he wasn't serious. So did the other Basterds too, except that Hertz was nervous as hell and Liebermann didn't give a shit. Utivich moved to have a look at Wicki's arm.

Aldo leaned forward and grimaced a bit when he did so. "It seems you're gettin' outta control", he said. Then he paused. "…The military's never had you under control, has it."

"Naw."

Aldo stood up, slowly and carefully and not to his full height, but still. "I knew I could count on you", he said and glanced each man in turn. Finally, Ellie. "C'mon here."

Ellie let out a little laugh. Aldo sounded tired. _Drained_. No wonder… She walked all the way into his awaiting embrace, and for a short second, nothing else existed.

Then the moment passed. Ellie pulled away and dragged herself back to reality, which was that they were seriously on enemy territory with hurt and wounded men. They had to get somewhere safer. As she thought, Donny spoke:

"It's good to have you back, lieutenant." The other Basterds aired their agreement.

"Huh. I'm grateful that you came for me. It ain't fun bein' their prisoner, I owe y'all", Aldo said with his hands on his hips. He looked much more like himself now, out of the darkness and dust of the prison.

"Of course we did", Utivich said. He had come to the conclusion he could do nothing about Wicki's arm, and moved to sit on another trunk. "What happened there?"

A shadow swept over Aldo's face and he suddenly looked old. Utivich almost wished he hadn't asked. "I won't be telling you that now, we ain't got the time. We got to get further away from that hellhole and make ourselves a camp. It's gettin' late."

"Yes, sir", Donny was happy to comply.

Ellie noticed how her opinion wasn't even asked, but didn't interfere. If someone could so swiftly take the responsibility of a leader from her, it was her father. It was okay, so she told herself. After all, she had accomplished her mission and now Aldo had every right and duty to became the leader again. The whole thought forced a smile on her face again.

Aldo was - as well as exhausted, hurt and disheveled - safe, or as safe as a guerilla lieutenant can be in the enemy territory.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: **I'm not a genius, unfortunately there's no way I could've come up with as brilliant characters as Quentin Tarantino has. I'm not making money with this, thank God.

**A/N: **Oh-kay. More... Sorry for the timeskip. And I'm really sorry the amount of **grammar and preposition mistakes**, I'm not the most motivated and active English studier in the world... Blah. But I tried. I hope you can understand everything going on there. I'd love to get comments... **Please, review**..!  
And hey by the way, now when I remember, **my intention is not to insult anyone**, not Germans, not Americans, nor French people... Nor Swedes, with my lovely few swedish scribblings few chapters back.

Thank you, A LOT. :)

* * *

Hertz dropped his gun, rolled up his sleeves and knelt by the river. His hands were bloody and he wanted to get them clean as soon as possible. Once again, he had done nothing but scalped the already dead Nazis they had ambushed just hours before. He wasn't even trusted with pointing his gun at their heads. He couldn't afford to be insulted by it though, he knew exactly why he was considered a lesser soldier than the others. It was because he thought so himself. He was so damn nervous around the others. He looked up to every single one of them, he felt unworthy from the beginning, so the others started to get used to it. It wasn't their fault, it was his, and it made him feel even lesser. Goddammit. He sighed as the cold water washed over his hands.

He hated killing. He felt horrible for having to kill anyone… He knew it was necessary, but he hated blood. Still, it didn't even occur to him to leave the team. Ellie had given them a clear chance to go back home if they felt like it… He hadn't even seriously thought about it. If someone like her believed in him enough to take him with her, he would take the honor and do his best, of course.

The team… It had been a week since their success in saving Lieutenant Raine. He was in charge now. The Jew men still obeyed Ellie just as much, but the Raines usually agreed. Always, to be exact.

Lt. Raine had gained strength and weight already, enough to look healthier. Even after simply shaving and washing up, he had looked like a different man. He wasn't fully recovered though, and no wonder. What he had told about the prison was not beautiful.

"In the beginning I had myself four cellmates", he had told. "They all were taken to the torture chamber, one by one. We others listened to them screamin' and cryin' and we never saw them again.

"Just yesterday this kraut sergeant came to tell me my turn was coming. When the Führer would be kind 'nough to arrive, he wanted to question me himself, so I heard. Just his style, to make me watch as others get dragged away and wonder about my own fate… It wasn't fun. But Hans will be findin' an empty cell from where he left me…"

Hertz had been more or less terrified while listening. He wished he could be as brave. He sighed again and stood up. Well, maybe his time would come. Or not. Some people are just not meant to be heroic, he guessed. He picked up his gun and headed to the camp. It was in the middle of a small area of tighter forest, inside a bigger one. They hadn't traveled far from Nadine, biggest Nazi traffic seemed to be located there at the moment.

Hertz got closer to the camp, but also more hesitant at each step. He couldn't hear the laughter he had when he left, nor Donny's loud voice. He did hear speaking…in German. Footsteps of one man. He heard Aldo's accent, but couldn't understand what he was saying. A smack, a thud and cursing, definitely Aldo's.

Hertz halted. He swallowed hard and continued walking, silently. Something was certainly not right.

Ellie flinched as Aldo was backhanded. Hard. His nose and lip were bleeding by now. The German sergeant, who was pacing in front of him, looked smug. Aldo looked plain annoyed. "Speak English, asshole."

The Nazi answered something in German. It was going nowhere, They had no idea what the Germans wanted, and Wicki was out cold. For some unknown reason, the first thing these morons had done when entering their camp had been knocking him out. Ellie guessed they wanted an example. He didn't look too seriously hurt. There was a bloody bruise near his hairline, but nothing he would die for…so Ellie wished anyway.

All the Basterds were tied and kneeling, surrounded by a patrol of Nazi soldiers. They had taken Aldo forward, apparently asked him something (in German) and when he hadn't understood a word, he got kicked around. It seemed as if they only wanted an excuse to kick him around. Stiglitz didn't seem too pleased with the possibility he could get the job of the translator.

After babbling a while, the Nazi sergeant turned to Ellie. And she did not like the look on his face. She had seen something similar in bars in US, where the drunken soldiers had been fooling around. It was the look they gave to every single person from the opposite sex. Now she looked up, to the tops of the trees and wished she seriously misunderstood. The Nazi took a few brisk steps towards her, crouched and turned her face to meet his. Oh, hell. She misunderstood nothing. The Nazi spoke German again.

Stiglitz growled something in German as well, and after the Nazi sergeants brief reply, he gave a shout. Donny shifted uncomfortably near her.

"What the fuck are they going on about", he thought out loud, sounding more than a bit annoyed.

"I got no clue", Ellie mumbled, her chin still in the sergeants grip. "And I don't know if I wanna…" A slightest fear crawled into the back of her mind. Suddenly she felt like struggling, kicking and screaming, but it was out of question. Of course. The urge got almost irresistible when the sergeant started sliding his hand down along her neck. Stiglitz growled louder and Aldo yelled "Hey!" Ellie bit her lip and grimaced in disgust. Who the hell did that asshole think he was..? If he had looked smug just moments ago, there were no words to describe his face now. Perfect…

A sound of wheezing and a loud thud interrupted the unimaginably disgusting moment. Everyone's attention turned to the border of the camp, where a Nazi soldier lay on the ground, his throat slit open. Ellie's brow lifted in confusion. Wait a sec, there was a man missing from her team...

Another soldier dropped dead behind them and now the sergeant shot up and whirled around. The remaining few soldiers looked around them, guns lifted and loaded. There was no one in sight.

Like out of nowhere, a knife appeared to soldiers neck, a hand pulled his head back and there was the wheezing sound again. Low grumbling of life escaping his body. Then they were gone, the knife and the hand.

The sergeant was frantically searching the killer now, giving his two remaining soldiers orders they didn't seem to understand. The were panicking. When yet another Nazi soldier died, screaming until he no longer could, the remaining one and the sergeant ran for it. Not far though, they were shot before they got out of the Basterds' sight.

"Well, what do ya know", Donny mumbled when Hertz appeared from the shadow of the trees. Ellie snorted a laughter. "No kiddin'."

"Is everyone alright? Oh, shit", Hertz asked and spotted Wicki. He frowned and opened his mouth to say something, but Aldo interrupted. "We'll take a look, just release us first, will ya."

"Oh, right, of course", Hertz mumbled and hurried to do as he was told.

Utivich went straight away to Wicki. Ellie had to hold still a moment. She took few deep breaths and calmed her racing heart. She felt tingling where the Nazi had touched her, like thousands of tiny spiders were running along her skin. Violent chills ravished her.

"Ellie?" Aldo, who wiped his bloody face to his sleeve. Donny frowned at her. "You alright, miss?"

"Huh", Ellie's head snapped up. "Yeah, yeah, I'm alright." Aldo ruffled her hair gently and moved on to check on Wicki. The tingling feeling was gone and now she barely remembered it. She stood up and wiped some mold off her knees. Donny gazed up at her, still sitting on the ground. She looked back at him and lifted a brow. "There a problem?"

"I don't know, is there?"

"No?"

"Good."

Ellie shook her head and smiled lopsidedly as she offered a hand for Donny to take. It couldn't be of any help for a man his size, but he took it anyway without comments.

Aldo hadn't had his fatherly instincts in use for years, and he didn't recognize them at first. But why else would he suddenly feel like smacking Donny upside the head? Oh, well. He resisted the urge and directed his full attention to Wicki, who was still unconscious. And pale as a ghost.

"Utivich, how is he?" he asked.

"I don't think it's that bad. Maybe a slight concussion or something…I don't see any reason he wouldn't wake up any minute now", Utivich answered. "I mean, I'm not a doctor, but it's not bleeding too much and his vital signs are good."

"That's good enough reasoning", Aldo admitted. He wiped his face again. "I'm heading to the river to get cleaned up. Liebermann, you come with me. No one here drops their guard, we don't want no more surprises."

Liebermann obeyed without saying a word, but he clearly wasn't happy being ordered around. He preferred orders from Aldo over Ellie anytime though, now even ignored hers completely. She had nothing against Aldo giving orders, or the men following them, but she didn't like being ignored. So far she had just swallowed it with grimace. Now she made a decision to have a little chat with Liebermann. Later.

As Aldo passed Hertz, who was scalping a man he had this time killed himself, he gave the soldier a pat on the back. "Damn good job, Hertz."

Hertz was glowing. "Thank you, sir..!"

Ellie finished folding the blanket she had grabbed and knelt to place it under Wicki's head.

"You moved like a ghost", she commented to Hertz, sincerely impressed.

"Yeah, what are you, a man or a phantom?" Donny asked as he joined Hertz's act of scalping. The other Jew chuckled and blushed furiously. "I've just learned to sneak around… Any of you could've done the same."

"What, kill a patrol of Nazis one by one without anyone catching a glimpse of you? I don't think so", Utivich said. "You did _well." _

Ellie was happy everyone realized the value of the happenings. Hertz had never had too much confidence. It was good he could get some, and definitely deserved it. Ellie smiled happily. She had inherited her father's skill in seeing the potential in soldiers. She hoped it hadn't been wrong with Liebermann…


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: **Half of the characters in this chapter are actually mine. Oh my God. Whoa. But I bet you won't have any trouble seeing which ones. The other half are brilliant Quentin Tarantino's.

**A/N: **Uh-oh. I don't know if I made the right decision here... Let me know what you think. About...you know. The second half of the chapter. And the grammar and all that shit might just suck and bad, it's pretty late. Haa. Thank you _so much_, for those goddamn reviews I couldn't live without.  
Anyway, heeeere ya go!

* * *

Adelbert Bachman was walking in the Nazi headquarters in Paris. His destination was the Führer's office. Just like few weeks ago. The reason was the same, too. He didn't know what force in the world pulled them towards each other, but for the second time, he had met the American guerilla army. And made it out alive. This time he hadn't even told them anything, honestly. Still, he was even more nervous than the last time; there was no way Landa would believe him now.

He stopped behind the door, sighed, lifted his fist and knocked. The permission to enter came, and Adelbert thought he would faint. He entered and remained standing in the doorway. Only when Hans Landa lay his eyes on him, he realized to quickly remove his hat and salute. Landa chuckled. He was pouring red wine into two glasses.

"Ah, Adelbert, we meet again. And in just as sad circumstances as before", he said and suddenly sounded almost mockingly mournful. "Please, sit down", he prompted then, happily again. Bachman obeyed and started fingering his hat nervously, just like last time he was there. Landa put a glass in front of him and sat on the edge of his desk.

"Well… I must say, I'm rather surprised to see you again, this soon, no less", he said after a moment of silence. "I wonder if your encounter was as interesting as last time?"

Bachman didn't know what he wanted to hear. No sensible thought could fight its way through his panicked mind. He felt that wrong answer would mean his immediate death, so he settled with making a strange noise, that could be understood as 'sir'. It seemed to amuse Landa greatly.

"Oh, Adelbert, don't be scared. Just tell me what happened", he said. Bachman took a deep breath.

"Sir, we were taken to their camp… again. The Apache was there, too…" he said the name carefully, like he didn't know if he was allowed to. When Landa only nodded, he continued: "They wanted us to tell them about other German patrols. Your plans, sir. Everyone refused, I did, too. I was the last they called forward and the woman recognized me."

Landa listened with the faintest smile. Bachman tensed. It was ridiculous, he had survived from the hands of the enemy and now he had to fear for his life in the hands of his Führer. Truth to be told - the very truth - he was more scared now, than he had been in the Basterds' camp.

"Well, go on! She recognized you and then what?" Landa prodded.

"Then… they - they let me go", Bachman stuttered. "They let me go to…spread the word."

He was as good as dead. Landa kept smiling.

"Spread the word… Adelbert, we spoke about this last time. They don't let anyone who hasn't been useful to them, go."

"I know..! Sir! But they let me, I swear… I told them nothing", Bachman told. His voice was getting higher with fear.

"Yes, yes, alright! Deep breaths, my friend. So… Tell me about them. The Basterds. Are the rumors true?" Landa asked, suddenly interested. Bachman was momentarily stunned by the question. Well… Maybe it was a natural question to ask. He just hadn't prepared to answer sensibly.

"Well… Uh… They are, more or less... The Golem… The Apache… The Ghost-"

"The Ghost! Tell me more about him!"

"He's more a phantom than a man. He comes out of nowhere and kills silently…Then there's the old man, with so much fury its enough to kill a man itself", Bachman continued, remembering the Basterds as he spoke. He had to tell everything he knew about them… Screw the stupidity of superstition. He had started to believe in ghosts.

"Ah, how exciting", Landa beamed. "A ghost army."

Bachman swallowed hard and fell silent. The foolish wave of confidence was gone as quickly as it had came. Huh. He must've sounded like a complete idiot. He wasn't stupid, he understood when he was mocked… And the mocking from Landa helped him regain some of his senses from the anxiety. "Sir, I…"

"It's alright. But you say you didn't tell them anything."

It was not a question, so Bachman stayed silent.

"The last time you gave me some important information in exchange of the information you gave them. Now… Lieutenant Raine still managed to escape, just an hour or so after our discussion. You can't be of any use now. And I can't let you spread any fool rumors about ghosts, the men are nervous enough as it is", Landa said lightly. Bachman wanted to jump up and ran for his life, but he was like paralyzed. He closed his eyes and he was dead, when the echo of the gunshot reached the ears of the soldiers on the other side of the building.

* * *

"Shit", Ellie cursed for the umpteenth time in just five minutes. She was gathering firewood in the forest, before the rain would start pouring down from the blackened sky. There wasn't long before the downpour, anyone could see that. There was a familiar pressure in the air. The Basterds had to gather dry firewood for some time. It was getting colder night by night and they needed the fire to stay warm. Ellie cursed the winter, too, as well as the firewood hoo-ha. In Sweden and Finland she had loved the winter. But there in France, it was troublesome. She had to admit, she didn't know how cold exactly the winters were in France, but she guessed they would have to find an abandoned barn or a Nazi-adverse household to spend the coldest month in. Now, what she had to concentrate on, was the groggy pile of firewood on her arms.

"Ellie."

The sudden call from just inches away from her ear caught her off guard and the wood went flying. She stumbled to turn around, the branches she had just dropped almost tripping her. She managed to regain her balance and register the face of the man standing in front of her.

"Donny, goddammit!" she cried and held a hand on her heart. "You tryin' to get rid of your life..?"

Donny laughed, but Ellie was hardly amused. If she had had her knife in her hand, which she had used to cut some of the branches smaller, she really could've killed him. It felt as if the thought dropped something cold into her stomach.

"Sorry, sorry… Didn't mean to scare you", the Jew finally said. He had a respectable bunch of firewood under only one arm, the other being free to pick more from the ground. Ellie shook her head. "Right…"

She hummed briefly and was about to turn to the fallen firewood, but Donny grabbed her upper arm gently. Ellie lifted a brow at him. He looked suddenly very serious. Ellie could barely hide her surprise, when he asked: "You aren't really angry with me, are you?"

Then she chuckled. "No, no… Of course I ain't."

Donny's grip eased a bit and he shrugged. "Yeah, good I just… I mean, it'd suck to make you mad, you're the lieutenant and all…"

"Yeah, I get it… I ain't mad, I couldn't be mad at you for something that little", Ellie said without thinking about it, "I just kinda freaked when I thought I could've, you know, _hurt you_ if I happened to have the knife in hand or something."

The uneasy feeling settled to her stomach again. This time also because there was a certain pressure on those words. She had told more than she had meant to. She felt her face heat up. Keep your calm. A moment is awkward only if you make it awkward in your head, she tried telling herself. She relaxed a bit.

"Uh-huh", Donny nodded and released Ellie's arm completely. The sudden lack of the strong hold left her feeling somehow… cold. She glanced at the Jew and saw him look a bit uncomfortable, too. She couldn't look at him for long, though, her own face started warming up again. She never exactly blushed, but she didn't feel like taking the risk.

"Uh, I'll give ya a hand with the wood", Donny eventually said and ducked to pick up the branches. Ellie made a little noise, that would most naturally be understood as 'yeah', but didn't move a muscle to do anything herself. How goddamn troublesome. She sighed silently and shifted. Donny straightened up and turned around.

"Donny, I…"

"I think I…"

Perfect. They had chosen the exactly same moment to speak and now both were silent, just looking at each other. Ellie didn't bother thinking about how comfortable or uncomfortable the situation was, she lost herself into the Jew's dark eyes the moment their gazes met.

What broke the moment, was a little raindrop, that landed on the peak of her cap. She directed her eyes up without rising her head, though of course she knew she couldn't see the drop. She licked her lower lip and wrinkled her nose.

"We should…"

"The firewood'll get wet."

"Exactly", Ellie agreed and finally moved to the firewood on the ground. Before she had time to bend to pick it up, Donny gripped her arm again, with a bit more force than before. The wood under his arm fell as he closed the small distance between the two. Ellie didn't resist. Her hat fell and a strong hand made it's way to her practically shitty mess of hair. Their lips met in a heated kiss, that lasted just for a few seconds, but was enough to sweep the ground from under Ellie's feet. And that, as may be guessed, was not something that happened to her often. It was not an easy task to succeed in, causing her to feel that way.

When they separated, Ellie was so goddamn happy she didn't blush easily. Donny's cheeks were a bit red, though. Ellie had to give in to the smile, that forced its way on her lips. It was funny, how in constant danger of losing their lives, they could so completely forget where they were and what they were doing.

"We still should get goin'", she noted. Donny nodded his agreement. "Yeah, lieutenant won't be happy if we go back empty handed. Not to mention if we tell'im why…"

Ellie imagined the situation where they went to the camp empty handed, explaining how they had started kissing when it had started raining, and the firewood had been wet already when they got their tongues back from each other. Only the vision of her fathers face made her laugh. Donny chuckled, too, and proceeded to save the fire-making ingredients. Ellie followed the trait. The blush had died out quickly, but her smile remained. She would be herself in the camp again, she would be able to be like nothing happened, but now she felt content. Now there was nothing awkward about the moment. It was all out in the open for the two of them…without neither having to say it. Couldn't be better.


	9. Author's Note! A Question

Hey, I'm not dead!

In case you were wondering…

And I have not forgotten **Ellie and the Basterds**.

I wish you haven't forgotten this either, because I'm working on it. I've had a lot of trouble lately, and as horrible as it sounds, I haven't had a chance to update! I am really sorry it's taking me this long.

There's an important question I want to ask you people who read this and still are interested. Here goes… In the beginning, I planned Aldo's whole family. He had more kids than just Ellie, se was just the one I decided to bring up to this story. The actual question is, should she have siblings?** Should I include the rest of the Raine's into this? Do they exist in the reality this story takes place in?**

Please let me know what you think and beware; no matter what the answer is, I will continue. If I'll get no answers, I'll just improvise. Thanks already… :)

- Norrie


	10. Chapter 9

**A/N: **Heeeeeere we go! New chapter. I wanna thank everyone who answered my question and apologize I didn't wait any longer. I had this written and I want to post it. Now. I hope you're not disappointed and if you are, please let me know. If you're not, still, please let me know! Translation: **reviews please**. :)

* * *

Michael Fagerholm was running. He was in serious shit... If the bomb had been broken, he would have a company-full of Nazis after him in no time. And judging by the fact it still hadn't blown up, it -

BOOM!

... well _damn.._! Forget that! The bomb had obviously been fine. Michael's face lit up in a wide smirk. A successful mission once again... He was the mad suicide bomber of the U.S army, who avoided death as far as he could. Weird for a suicide bomber, yes, but he assumed he was more useful without blasting himself every time even if there was a chance to survive. There wouldn't even be 'every time' if he did. Hah. He kept running, even though there could be no one after him. He didn't stop until he reached his companion, who had left waiting in safe distance.

Dominick Raine was sitting on a tree trunk, whittling a piece of wood with a big knife. When he heard the approaching footsteps, he lifted his gaze. Michael was back already? The other man stopped in front of him, panting slightly and chuckling.

"Ya missed a big blast, Dom", he said. Dominick shrugged and sheathed his knife.

"I heard it", he said. He stood up and threw the wood into the bushes. "Quite a bomb. But Mike, you ain't no terrorist right now. You're supposed to stay alive."

"I ain't gettin' myself killed, brother, don't ya worry", Mike assured. "Besides, I can't just stop being who I am, no matter what country we're in."

Dom shook his head lightly and sighed inaudibly. He guessed not. "That so. You still have to remember what we're here for. 'Cause... blowing up Nazi-companies' trucks ain't it."

Mike grimaced and shuddered rather violently. "Gah. I know, I know, we gotta find Dad and Ellie, but how? They could be aaanywhere", he said and spread his arms to make his point clear.

Dom just looked back to his younger brother and said:

"You just don't listen, do ya... I told you, the general said they were somewhere near Nadine last time they were in contact. I hear that's the place Aldo was found. And the German captives still keep tellin' it's the place they've been seen most."

Mike wrinkled his nose and nodded. "I did listen... It's still like looking for a needle in a haystack."

Dom smiled a little. "I think you just might be underestimating us."

* * *

Just few hours later, near the village of Nadine, a group of Jews was taking a break. Normally they would've been looking for Nazi patrols, but today they were taking it easy. Wicki was not completely healed from the blow he had received from the Kraut patrol just few days earlier and Aldo figured it was better to sacrifice a day or two for letting him heal and think about what to do next. Now he was gathering his men around to discuss about the matter called winter.

"Oh-kay, soldiers. As all of us know, it ain't exactly warm and cozy sleepin' in the woods anymore", he begun when the Basterds were all sitting in front of him. "We need to find cover. Now, there used to live a nice ol' couple few miles north from here, but there's no way to tell if they still do. I suggest we go and find out. It's our best shot at the moment. Won't you agree?"

"Yes, sir", the Basterds choired. Aldo nodded. He searched his pocket for the packet of snuff. "That's where we'll be headin' for now on, then."

"Daaad! Ellieeee!"

The Basterds froze when the echo of loud yells reached their ears. Everyone heard it and everyone knew the only 'dad and Ellie' around were right there. Gazes jumped from Ellie to Aldo, and to the direction of the voice. The mentioned Raines shared a quick glance. Ellie's mind raced. The voice had sounded familiar. Could it really be...

"DAAAAAAD- Ow..!"

The voice was closer now. Not that they felt threatened by it, who would make such noise when attempting to attack? Who made such noise in Nazi lands to begin with..? And who would smack that person for doing so? Ellie knew exactly, but couldn't believe it. The look on Aldo's face told her he knew, too.

"How the hell..." he begun, but the rustling from really close interrupted him. Then it stopped.

"Mike, _quiet. _Who is it?" a firm male voice called. Ellie's mouth hung a bit open and one brow rose in disbelief. Aldo crossed his arms and stared, looking at least as incredulous. All he could say was: "Dominick."

"Aldo?"

A young man appeared to their sight. He looked familiar. A little like Aldo. No, a lot like Aldo. The same broad shoulders and vigorous form. Ellie's both brows were near her hairline when Mike also appeared behind him.

Mike was scrawnier young man with messy dark hair and eyes just like Ellie's. His clothes looked like he didn't give a shit what he wore and how. Dom had fair hair and he looked more military, though they both were supposed to go as civilians.

Aldo moved his hands on his hips and huffed. "Well, look at that. What the hell are you doin' here?"

"That how ya greet us, papa?" Mike asked laughingly. Ellie snorted a laughter and fell silent for a moment. Then she burst out laughing and hurried to Mike. She hugged him and he answered the hug just as tightly. "I've missed ya sis."

"I missed you, too Mickey", she said and pulled away to embrace Dom too.

Utivich carefully stepped closer to the still stunned looking Aldo. The Jew frowned. "Err, lieutenant, what's going on here?"

"Huh?" Aldo asked and looked at Utivich. Then he looked at the other men, who each seemed equally confused. "They're Dominick and Michael. My kids."

"Oh..." Hertz's mouth hung a bit open. "I didn't know miss Ellie had siblings..."

"Non of you knew Ellie existed until she wanted you to know. It's not any different with these brats here", Aldo said simply. He never wanted to make a number out of his children. He was rather infamous in U.S army and all four had wanted to stay out of his spotlight. "Now what'll we do, is we'll make a camp right here and right now. I need to have a little chat with Dom..." he mumbled, the last note most to himself.

Utivich was still confused, but nodded. "I'll get the fire going."

* * *

"So lemme get this straight..." Aldo said with a deep frown plastered on his face. "Finland is in war and your mommy went to Sweden after sendin' you to America. You're here because..?"

"One of you took radio connection to the HQ, tellin' about your guerilla mission here", Dom explained. "He told you were alive and all, and that you could use some back up." Everyone were silent for a moment. Dom lifted a brow. "Is that a problem?"

Aldo shook his head and straightened his back. "The problem is, that we ain't been takin' any connection to anyone. See, us being here, or more like this Basterd-team being here, is not authorized by the goddamn army." He smiled a little. "Ellie gathered a little loyal team of outlaws."

Mike let out a sound that can only be called a giggle. "Leave it to our little Eleonore to do something reckless and stupid... Way to go!" Ellie, who was sitting right next to him, reached to ruffle his hair. "Ha... You're one to talk! The baby of the family and already running around blowing things up, huh?"

"Shush, who're ya calling a baby?" Mike asked, pretending to be insulted. Then he wrapped an arm around Ellie's shoulders and hummed. "But yeah, I was on the other end of the radio myself. It was Umer or Elmer or somethin' like that..." Everyone's eyes were on Ulmer now, whose eyes were cast downward and his cheeks had the slightest blush on them. "Uh... Yeah."

"Omar, what the fuck?" Donny asked angrily. "You've been reporting to the HQ?" Ulmer looked troubled. "Yeah. Yes, I have. I... I first reported how we found lieutenant Raine. Then the other time just few days ago, when we found the hostage truck."

"Dammit, Ulmer", Aldo growled. "You've been hidin' something else?"

"No, sir", Ulmer answered and dared to lift his gaze. "I saw it as my duty, I'm sorry, sir."

Ellie sighed. "Fucking great. So they know all about us... I'll be in court martial the day I get back there. And I ain't gonna be the only one." She didn't know how to be angry at Ulmer. Sure, she was annoyed for him kind of... betraying them in a way, but it wasn't anger. She understood a loyal man's feeling of duty.

"You didn't know", Dom stated bluntly. Aldo snorted. "No, we did not. But it ain't bad to have you here. Eleven is a good number, closer to the ten we had the first time. And I'm happy to see ya'll alive and well."

"Yeah, paps", Mike piped in and grinned widely. Then he shuddered. He did that a lot, without any real reason. Dom said nothing. He eyed the Basterds through, one by one. Half looked strong and half... well, useless. He hoped their appearances were deceiving. Like they probably were. They were after all gathered by Aldo and Ellie.

Ellie closed her eyes, feeling the sleep break through. It was getting late. She was feeling more comfortable than in a long time and she feared the feeling a little. It lied. They were still on enemy territory, they couldn't forget that. It was constant danger. Her hand searched Donny's in the dark and the Bear Jew took it. That was all. They didn't look at each other, nor move towards each other. That connection, that no one would notice, was enough.


	11. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: **Not mine, not mine aaand... not mine. There are few exceptions, but you should have no difficulty in telling which characters are mine and which are the great genius', monsieur Tarantino's.

**A/N: **heeere. I'm sorry it took so long and even sorrier that it's so shitty... Anyway, please read on and leave your reviews for me to read and learn from. They really do make me incredibly happy :)

......... ......... .........

The next dawn was a good example of why exactly did they have to find shelter. The Basterd-team was heading north with its reinforcement, along the western border of Nadine, and the weather was worst they had seen so far. Cold rain washed over them and they could see barely few feet ahead. Ulmer - towards whom some held a little grudge for ratting to the U.S. military base - had to stop every five minutes to check if they were going the right way. He was still the best navigator of them, grudges or not.

Wicki stumbled on a rhizome for the seventh time, but just like the six times before, managed not to fall face first on to the mud-covered ground. He cursed out loud as he continued walking behind Utivich and Hertz. He held his aching head. Even though the wound had closed up, it stung. He could still feel the nasty bump. Goddamn Krauts...

"You okay?" Stiglitz's voice caught the corporal off guard. He hadn't realized the Dutchman was so close behind him. He spoke in German.

"I'm good", Wicki answered in the same language. He heard Stiglitz snort quietly, but neither of them said anything. The Dutchman was quiet by nature and Wicki's head threatened to explode. Simple as that.

Hertz kept his eyes securely downcast. The last thing he wanted was to trip and fall, so he lifted his feet unnecessarily high. He ignored the fact that it must've looked idiotic. Utivich didn't. After a moment of walking in silence and just looking at his comrade, he finally shook his head and asked:

"What the hell might you be doing?"

Hertz jumped, lifted his gaze and was immediately about to fall. Luckily Utivich caught him by the armpit and they didn't even need to slow down. "Okay, I get it. Don't answer", he said, trying to fight laughter the best he could. Hertz blushed a little and cleared his throat. There he was again, being a burden. Luckily, this time Utivich seemed amused.

"...Sorry", Hertz heard himself mumble. Now the other Jew laughed. "Stop saying that already. Tripping in a weather like this is not a reason to be sorry." Hertz grimaced and looked down again. Now that the tension had broken he walked normally, but it didn't mean he'd keep his eyes off the wet ground he could barely see anyway.

Few steps ahead of them was Liebermann. He walked alone and couldn't say he cared much about company. He had his mind set on other things. Things old geezers usually think when they are in France, on a Nazi-killing spree. You know, the usual.

Ulmer had a frown on his face. He was about to reach for the map under his jacket, but didn't. He had just checked it. There was no way they could have started drifting into wrong direction already...right?

"Somethin' wrong, Omar?" Aldo asked. Ulmer looked up to the lieutenant walking next to him. "Umm, no. This downpour is just making it hard to know where we are", he answered. Aldo pursed his lower lip and nodded. "We'll just have to keep goin'. We can't be much wrong anyway."

Ulmer silently agreed, or at least wished Aldo was right. Aldo wished so, too. He looked back over his shoulder to see if someone wasn't there. Not like he actually saw anyone else but Dominick, and the figures of Mike and Ellie who were right behind their older brother.

"Dom, do me a favor, will ya? See if everyone's still with us", Aldo requested. Dom said nothing, only nodded and stepped aside. Ellie gave him a questioning glance. "What are you up to?" she asked. "Just checking. I'll catch up with you in a minute."

Mike shrugged, Ellie frowned and both continued making their way through the mud. "So he hasn't changed a bit..." Ellie mumbled. Mike hummed. "Naw. Cheerful as ever." Ellie turned to walk backwards for a moment, to look at her brother. He was still standing on the side of the path, waiting for everyone to pass. "Ha. No less than I expected..."

Her eyes met Donny's just for few seconds. She smiled at him and he answered with a wink. Her smile widened and she snorted quietly before turning back around. "So, then", she turned to Mike again, "how is Mina doin'?"

"She, well... she ain't lacking company, that's for sure. Male company", Mike cackled. "Honestly. It's unbelievable you haven't seen her in years." Mike shuddered and threw his head back. "In _years!" _

Ellie laughed. "That's our sister... I know. Unbelievable", she admitted. She wanted to ask about her mother, but didn't. It was non of her business, her mother had made it very clear to her the day she decided to follow her father to America and into the army. Mike seemed to be reading Ellie's mind.

"Mama's doing well. She's doing well, don't ya worry, Elis", he assured and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, like he had done before. "I ain't worrying, Mickey. She's got Mina there, lookin' after her. If anyone of us can take care of mom, it's Mina", Ellie answered sincerely. Then she frowned. "Hear that?"

Mike frowned too. "Hear what?"

"Everybody, stop! We need to stop!"

"That."

"What's goin' on?" Aldo asked as he halted. He headed back, towards the tail of the group. Ellie followed him. It was about Wicki.

The corporal was on his knees on the ground with Stiglitz holding him upright. Dom was standing near them and it seemed like he had been the one who yelled for them to stop. Wicki was holding his head.

"What's goin' on?" Aldo repeated and crouched by their side.

"Nothing, I just tripped", Wicki said and attempted to stand up. When his legs refused to support his weight, he sighed and closed his eyes. Now he was only dancing around the issue, which was a thing he couldn't stand others doing. Might as well face the shitty truth. "And I have a concussion."

Aldo bit his lower lip. "Perfect", he mumbled. "Goddamn perfect", Ellie said at the same time. She crossed her arms and looked around. "You know, we might as well have a little break right here. Everyone's sick of this damn downpour anyway."

Aldo looked thoughtful. "I guess we could do that", he agreed.

"Yeah. And guess what else", said Ulmer, who had just then came with his map. "We've been going too much west. Deeper into the woods. Not too far, though, we're a few hours away from our destination."

"How can perfect get any better", Aldo thought out loud. "Well, that's about it. Start building us a shelter. Use all the tarps and make it as solid as possible."

Donny, Hertz, Utivich, Ulmer and Mike started working on the tarps. Dom didn't budge.

"Aldo, I think we should split up. I could go ahead and find the place if it still exists. You could follow us when the weather calms", he suggested.

Ellie shook her head. No matter how much she respected Dom as a sergeant, she did not agree. "I think you shouldn't. There ain't no real reason to split up now. It's the last option. We don't know what could be waiting when we get to that farm anyway." She pulled her jacket tighter around her. "Let's just all rest here for a bit."

Dom gave her a glance, but then directed his gaze towards Aldo. Ellie kept staring at him. So she was ignored. How lovely. Aldo looked uneasy when he stood up. "We'll just stick together. We'll see about this fucking rain", he said. Dom accepted the decision with a nod and moved to help the others set the covers. He still ignored Ellie, who now gave up with a sigh.

Wicki struggled to get on his feet. When had it gotten so hot? The rain felt cold against his skin, which was good, but at the same time, it was too hard to lift the soaking wet pack from the ground and the equally soaked clothes were suffocating him. He started unconsciously pulling his sleeves up.

"What are you doing?" Stiglitz asked him. "You're going to catch a cold."

"I don't - " Wicki begun, but closed his mouth when realization hit him. "...I'm running a fever."

"Because of the concussion?"

"Yeah", Wicki nodded. A mistake. A big mistake. He felt like his brain had hit his skull, hard. His vision blurred and he stumbled.

"Whoa", Aldo said and hurried to catch his left arm, as Stiglitz got the other. "Okay, let's get him under the tarps. This ain't looking too good now." The Basterds had managed to built a decent cover and Wicki was soon laying in the most dry and warm corner, slipping in and out of consciousness.

Aldo looked around in the cover approvingly. He couldn't stand completely straight, but it looked safe and relatively fitting to keep the rain at bay. Donny and Hertz had lifted few thin but solid tree trunks in the arms of two trees, managing to tie the tarps securely on them. Then few more were bind to those trunks and the ground to serve as walls. The lieutenant had to admit he was impressed.

They started a tiny fire and Aldo ordered someone to guard, but his men were faster and Donny was already outside.

......... ......... .........

An hour later he was standing in the rain all the Basterds so much loved. It was getting dark and all he could hear was the rain. It really got on his nerves. How was he supposed to keep watch if he couldn't see or hear a thing besides the fucking rain?

"Hey", someone called right next to him, not managing to make him flinch.

"Hi Mike", he said after squinting his eyes for a while to recognize the face less than a meter away from his own. "Your shift won't start in another hour, you know", he added. "I know", Mike said and Donny could hear the amusement in his voice. "I just thought you might want to change a little earlier. I could hear you cursing and grunting here."

"You could hear. How the fuck could you hear me in there? I couldn't hear you coming until you yelled into my ear", Donny asked with a frown. Mike laughed. "I think you ain't listening... Seriously though, I've learned to rely on my ears. I can hear the worm squirming under your foot right now."

Donny shook his head and snorted rather loudly, but since the other offered to switch earlier and the Bear Jew's nerves were near their breaking point, he agreed. "Okay, if you say so... But I won't owe you a thing", he said only half jokingly. Mike hummed loudly.

"Oh, don't ya worry. I don't know what you're used to, but where I come from, friendly offers between teammates are only friendly offers. Anyway, I'll be on the other side. It's more likely to be approached from the direction of the village than from the forest..."

As Donny watched the younger soldier disappear from his sight, he felt like an idiot. He quickly shook the feeling from his shoulders though, and turned to go under the cover, to dry up. After taking two steps towards the tarps, he stopped and turned 180 degrees and crouched by the spot he had stood on. Dead, brown and red leaves covered the ground and he picked few of them aside, one by one. There really was a worm. The rain had lured it out of it's tunnels under the mold. For a moment all Donny could do was stare.

Coincidence, he eventually concluded. That's all. It had to be.

He stood up again, not bothering to cover the little, slimy thing, and this time walked all the way to the cover and inside. He thought about the people around him, and how goddamn weird they were getting. He fit in better that ever.


	12. Chapter 11

**A/N: **Dun dun dunnn... FINALLY. I've been writing this forever. And now, at 12:42am I'm finished with this chapter. It's a rather weird one, but try to bare with me... And _please, oh please_ leave a review..! They lighten my days so much :) and by the way, be prepared for some typos, 12:42am and all... :P

**Disclaimer: **Now, because I can't remember whether I had a disclaimer in the previous chapter or not, I'll just write one here, just in case. The Inglourious Basterds is not mine. Thank God. I'm not the genius to write something so amazing. Quentin Tarantino, we owe you big time. Thank you.

... ... ...

An explosion ravished the tarps and a dim flash lightened the surroundings for a second. It was not much unlike the lightning that had hit just moments before, but the experienced soldiers were easily able to tell the difference. Everyone - with the exception of Wicki, who was out cold - jumped up.

"Nazis! Nazis..! It's a fucking kraut patrol!"

As they heard Mike's cries, every Basterd - with the exception of Wicki, obviously - grabbed their guns and headed for the noise. Ellie was about to step outside right behind Donny, but someone gripped her shoulder and pulled her back. She whirled around and was about to smack her older brother.

"Dom! What do you want?"

The older Raine patted her shoulder and said: "Someone has to stay with Wicki."

Ellie gave a little glance at the unconscious corporal. Utivich was standing next to him, apparently attempting to stay behind. "Utivich is on it", Ellie noted to her brother then. "Now lemme go."

"Look", Dom refused to let go of her. He spoke quickly and strictly. "We need every man outside, now, so stop being difficult sis, okay?"

Ellie's brow shot high. "Every man… What the hell, Dom..! Dominick!" she yelled after her brother and Utivich, whose rather stunned form Dom was already dragging out. "Goddammit!" She shook her head in disbelief, but saw no option but to stay in. Everyone else were long gone. Fuck.

It was hell, to listen to the noises coming from outside. It was no longer raining, but the sky was dark and the ground was still wet, making it hard to move quickly. Ellie heard gunshots, yells, squelching footsteps and occasionally little explosions. She knew her brother was an expert with them, Molotov cocktails and such. He had learned to use them in Finland, and was rather proud of them.

Ellie's mouth twisted into a tight smile. She was sitting on the ground, next to Wicki's makeshift bed with the gun in her hands. She refused to let her eyes leave the little gap between the dirty green tarps. What the fuck could she do?

Her thoughts guided her from Mike to Dominick. What the hell was he thinking? Was he still bitter? She had thought they were over -

Wicki shifted in his sleep and Ellie listened carefully for any further movements. When she heard none, she risked a glance at the corporal. His eyes were slightly open and their gaze was directed straight towards the young lieutenant. She lifted a brow, checked the doorway once again, and moved closer to Wicki.

"Good morning, how'r you feelin'?" she asked quietly. Wicki took a deep breath through his nose and closed his eyes. "Like I've missed something important", he said. Ellie couldn't hold back a grin. "Nothing more than an attack of the krauts. But I think the Basterds are takin' care of it…"

She lifted her gaze as she spoke and her grin died. She hoped they were, anyway. The noises from the outside had taken distance and Ellie assumed it was how the Basterds had planned. To lure the Nazis far from the campsite and incapacitate them. She chewed on her lip and laid her hand on Wicki's forehead. She was happy to notice it had cooled down. He even had more color on his face, instead of the death paleness from an hour ago.

"Honestly though, you're looking better", Ellie noted out loud and Wicki nodded very lightly. He was about to say something, but before he had the chance they both heard rustling from the outside and froze. Ellie stood up slowly and signed for the other to stay still. She started making her way towards the so called doorway as quietly as possible. There was more noise around the tent, as if someone was running around it, before the surroundings went silent. Ellie didn't know which one she liked less, the noise or the silence.

"Don't move", a thick German accent commanded. She froze and frowned. Who the hell… She was about to turn back around, but now Wicki stopped her. "Stay still, Ellie."

She obeyed. Her heart was pounding in her chest and mouth dried in a split second. She had a strong hunch they were in big trouble. The unknown person spoke quickly in German and Wicki translated: "don't move, stay quiet and no one will get hurt."

Ellie grit her teeth at his voice, which told her he had a gun pointed at his head. Goddammit. Her fingers curled tightly around her own gun, knowing what was to come. "Drop your gun and turn around _slowly._"

Extremely reluctantly she did as she was told. She turned around just in time to see Wicki being pulled up and pushed next to her. Had the Basterds really left the tent unguarded from the outside? If not, what had happened to the guard..? She cursed inwardly at her stupidity. She had let the enemy in when she was supposed to look after an injured comrade. Way to go.

The Nazi soldier looked calm and very deadly, but Ellie noticed how his knuckles were white from squeezing the gun so hard. One leg of his pants was soaking wet, even though the rest of the uniform was dry. Maybe he had tripped into a water puddle? Or not. He was careful not to put any weight on the wet leg. Was it hurt? Ellie's eyes narrowed. Wicki was a smoker, right?

"He says we're surrounded. So we'd better not try anything. And he understands a little English, so we'd better not try planning anything", Wicki told. "Try anything? _Plan _anything?" Ellie snorted, "Like hell. We ain't suicidal." The slightest smile crossed the corporal's lips. "Certainly not…" he agreed quietly. "Hey Wicki. Make sure to grab your jacket before we step outta here. We might need something to make us warm with, if you know what I mean", Ellie spoke casually. She knew how sharp Wicki was. He nodded slowly.

Their German captor seemed to have had enough. He spoke quickly and quietly in his native language. "We have to follow him. Landa wants to meet us", Wicki said, eliciting a louder, angry yell from the Nazi. "Don't call der führer by his name, you worthless scumbags!" he growled in his stumbling English, his voice getting lower each word. If they were surrounded by Nazis, why did he try not to raise his voice? Ellie fought not to let her growing confidence show.

"Don't burn your pants..! We'll follow ya. But let him take his jacket first. He's sick, you see, you wouldn't want him dying on the way", Ellie said. Her stomach lurched nastily when she realized she wasn't even lying. Even though he had been better when he woke up, color had started to drain from Wicki's face again.

The Nazi nodded frantically and mumbled in German. Wicki moved to pick his jacket from the ground where it had fell in all the hurry others had left in. Then they were told to turn around, get out of the tent and walk to the direction he wanted them to walk in. They obeyed like good hostages would.

... ... ...

Wicki put his hands in his pockets and found the matches he always kept with him. He was happy the Nazi hadn't realized to check his pockets, nor Ellie's. It meant she had her knife somewhere on her belt. And he had the matches. He had understood her hints about them, but wasn't exactly sure what she needed them for. He just needed to trust her. And why wouldn't he have. She looked calm enough, just a little edgy. As if she was waiting for something. A diversion? He wished he could offer one, but was out of ideas.

Ellie was indeed getting edgy. She was convinced they would get out of trouble, if only they could make their captor look the other way, even for a second. But how…God_dammit! _She yelped out loud as she fell flat on her stomach. She rolled her eyes and supported her upper body on her elbows. Unbelievable. She stumbled in a hostage situation. How smooth.

The Nazi took few brisk steps closer and said something angrily. Wicki leaned to offer her a hand, which she accepted. Wicki shook his arm a bit, making the flat matchbox fall from his sleeve, in between their hands. Ellie groaned and dramatically fell back to the ground as soon as Wicki let go. He backed off as the Nazi came closer, mumbling something non-too-happily, mostly to himself. Just as Ellie had hoped, he kicked her firmly on the ribs. And even with the right leg.

She bit her lip as he kicked again, and opened the matchbox with one hand, so that their captor couldn't see it. When the next kick came with an angry command to get up, she placed both arms around herself so that her hands met on her navel. Then she scratched. The little torch that lit the head of the match burned her finger a little, and when it was close enough, it touched the wet area on the Nazis pant leg. Fire spread on the alcohol-covered material and Ellie cried out. A hot wave spread along with the flames and burned the hands she had lifted to protect her face. Her voice was soon covered by the yells of the German she had just set on fire, and mindless shooting.

"Ellie!" Wicki cried. The lieutenant rolled further, not knowing whether she had been injured by the flames or not. All she knew was that she and Wicki both needed to get away. "Run!" she yelled and pushed herself up. After few steps she found Wicki and they started running back towards the camp. The German soldier was nothing but a big, screaming, squirming torch.

"Guys! Guys, I can see them!" someone yelled. Ellie smiled at the familiar voice. Utivich, ever the watchman. Wicki was still conscious by her side, but neither was able to run another meter. They walked unsteadily the rest of the way to the camp, Ellie straight to Donny's embrace and Wicki to Stiglitz's supporting arms. Ellie laughed.

"Un-fucking-believable", she chuckled and pulled away from the Bear Jew. "Is everybody alright?" Donny snorted. "Yeah, now... Well, Liebermann got sliced a little, otherwise we're perfect. It was you…you guys we were worried about."

"We came back and found the cover empty", Stiglitz said monotonously. "What happened?" Ellie shook her head. She was suddenly exhausted. "We gotta get in first, get Wicki lay down and all. I'll explain then."

Stiglitz helped Wicki in and onto the same bedroll he had slept on, before the intruder had kidnapped them. The corporal didn't sleep, but accepted the chance to rest and let Ellie tell the story.

"Okay, so Wicki had just woken up and lookin' better when we heard someone runnin' around the cover. That someone managed to sneak in behind our backs and was about to take us meet the big boss Landa. Our guy had had an encounter with y'all, judging by the fact his leg had been hit by a Molotov cocktail…though it'd failed to explode. He was limpin' and with Wicki's matches we set the asshole on fire. Then we ran back 'ere."

"Ohh, man", Mike moaned and shivered. "You burned yourself in the process, sis, dunno if ya noticed…" Ellie frowned and looked at her hands. Right one had a big burn on the base of the thumb and both were reddish and a bit swollen. "Lovely", she noted. "Way to go, Ellis", Mike said and threw his fist into the air. "Shuddup", Ellie said shortly and halfheartedly.

Aldo hummed, frowned and pursed his lips a bit. "You think he's dead now? The kraut who got you", he asked. "Has to be", Ellie said. "He really was on fire when we left, I mean it. And I think he stopped screaming before we got too far to hear it." Aldo looked thoughtful. "If that's the case…we'll stay here. We killed every single one we caught and that's everyone except for the guy who digressed back 'ere."

The Basterds agreed, except for Dom, but he kept his opinion to himself, knowing his fathers word was final in this case.

Liebermann seemed to be well enough, grunting and mumbling as usual. Maybe he was even grumpier than normally, if possible. Utivich checked Ellie's hands, tied the biggest burn and Wicki quickly fell asleep. Ellie was laying next to Donny, his arms around her tired form. She breathed in the familiar scent and closed her eyes. "Goddamn fricking krauts, for fucks sake…" she mumbled. Donny let out a low chuckle. "Yeah. Agreed."

Ellie hummed and yawned, already half asleep. "It feels we ain't getting any closer to killing Landa…" she whispered. "Don't say that", Donny murmured. "We'll get him, and I'm gonna bash his brain in with my loyal baseball bat. Or maybe you'll burn him alive, who knows." Ellie snorted a low laughter. "Yeah. Likely. Eeeh. Good night, Donnie", she slurred quietly. "Good night", Donny whispered and gave her a light kiss on the cheek. "We'll get him."


	13. Chapter 12

**A/N: **Oh-kay... here we go again. After a long break, I'm back to this desperate mission of continuing this story. How can it be so goddamn difficult...I'm sorry for it's shitty, I'm trying to pull myself together and do it ! Yay !

**Disclaimer:** Again, because I can't remember if I had one in the previous chapter: Inglourious Basterds are/is not mine.

... ... ...

The Basterds wandered for five full hours in the misty forest. The chilly morning had just turned into even chillier noon, and every single one of the men had their doubts about whether they would ever get to their destination or not. Even Ulmer. They were exhausted after the Nazi-attack, and had way too little time to sleep after it.

Wicki had slept his feverish sleep rather soundly and it was no wonder. A wounded soldier and a short-time captive... Guerrilla's life was no piece of cake. Now he was walking close to Stiglitz, who was all but carrying him. Liebermann, who had gotten a little piece sliced off his left hand, hid all signs of pain well. Nothing on his wrinkled face gave away the fact that he was injured. No one dared to comment, but everyone was keeping an eye on him. Old man he was... Ellie's hands were as good as new. Only a tiny, little burn mark on the base of her right hand's thumb was prove of how she had just last night burned a Nazi alive. The main thing was, that every one of the Basterds was alive and...well, not _well _maybe, but... alive. And it was saying something.

Finally they were out of the forest, and could see the farm they had been looking for so long. Ulmer stopped the group to discuss about how to proceed.

"I'll go check it out", Dom offered. "If they seem hostile, I'll just leave and come back here." Ellie lifted a sceptical brow. "Shouldn't it be someone they know? Like kinda trust already?"

"I ain't so sure if they really trust any of us. They were a slight bit cautious to begin with..." Aldo mused. "I don't know if taking off without any explanation really helped." The reason he mused out loud like that, was not that he wasn't sure of what to do. No, he knew. But now he was sensing something wasn't too pleased about. The reason he had allowed Ellie to move to the U.S. in the first place.

"So it would be useless. I'll go", Dom said briefly and took a step towards the small main building. Ellie stopped him by the sleeve. "Not so fast. I still think it would be better if Aldo went. Sorry, Dom, but he's a slight bit better with interacting with people anyway", she reasoned. " When an unknown, bulky, armed man like you barges in just like that-", she snapped her fingers to emphasize the point, "-hell, I would be goddamn suspicious."

Dom's face remained expressionless as he glanced at his younger sister and then looked back at Aldo. Ellie was pretending she didn't notice, but inside she was pissed off by his attitude once again. Then there was silence. Aldo's gaze turned slowly from Dom to Ellie and back. Ellie had certainly seen that face before, when she was about eight. And in an argument with her brother. Dammit.

"Uh-oh, you guys are in trooooouble", Mike noted and snickered into his palm. Aldo shook his head.

"Just like ten years ago. You brats are just the same. Dom, you are not going there alone. In fact, you're not going at all. But I ain't either. Ellie is."

"There, I told you - wait what?" Ellie begun in an irritable tone, but it changed to surprised as she realized what his dad really said. "I am?"

"Yeah. And you gonna go unarmed. That way you'll be soothing enough, so they won't freak out on you. You've got the wits to get yourself outta sticky situation if get into one", Aldo said. "What are you waiting for?" Ellie closed her mouth that had been hanging open, and gave her gun to Donny, along with the little knife she had in her boot. The bigger one she gave to Mike, more reluctantly. She didn't like being separated from it.

"Aldo, are you sure she should go by herself?" Dom asked his father quietly. Ellie used all her self-control not to snap at him. It wouldn't have done any good anyway. Surprisingly, Stiglitz decided to intervene. "You should learn to shut your mouth and not to question lieutenant's decisions or miss Ellie's ability to fulfill her tasks."

That did the trick. Dominick said nothing, neither did Aldo. Ellie lifted a brow. "Thank you...I appreciate that. I'm off to the lion's lair now, see you in a bit", she said and took off. The Basterds could see her take off her cap and start braiding her hair as she walked towards the farm.

... ... ...

"Excuse me? Is anyone here?" Ellie called carefully when she got to the farm's yard. "Anyone?" For a moment there was no answer, but then she heard some rustling from the barn. "Who is it? If it's you, darn Nazi-basterd, I'm going to shoot your brain out! Can you hear me? I told you, I have nothing to hide! Get out of my yard!"

It was a wheezy old voice that spoke in a heavy French accent. The barn was small, and the door was open. Still, Ellie couldn't see inside, it was too dark in there. She lifted her arms up, just to be sure. "Only half right", she couldn't resist saying. "I'm ain't no Nazi, that you can be sure of. Please, come out so I can talk to you."

A silence followed, until heavy footsteps started getting closer to the door. Finally, an old, small and gray man stepped out of the darkness. He had his rifle pointed at Ellie, and he did not look happy. When he realized it was a woman he was opposing, he lowered the rifle and frowned. "What do you want from my farm?"

"I'm looking for shelter", Ellie answered honestly. The sky was getting darker and darker, and it wouldn't take long before the rain would start. She wanted to get the Basterds somewhere safe before the water would start pouring with it's full power. "I'm fighting against the Nazis with my team."

"Dear girl. Come in to my humble house and we'll talk over a cup of tea."

... ... ...

The insides of the truly humble cottage were cozy. Through the kitchen window Ellie could see an enclosure for the few cows that had roamed into their cowshed. The surrounding forest started right behind the fence. Ellie sat on one of the self-made wooden chairs and took the teacup offered. "So, little lady, tell me what brings you here, to fight Nazis?"

Ellie noted that the old man had not left his rifle. "As I said, I'm looking for shelter for myself and my ten teammates, some of whom you already know. The Basterds, if you can recall?" The old man's smoky eyes cleared for a second. "Yes, yes, I do remember them. The Basterds...I thought they were all dead by now."

"No, they're very much alive, with few exceptions. They are actually waiting for me to let them know if we can get the cover we've been looking for..?" Ellie asked in a placatory manner. The old man frowned and his respectable gray beard moved as he pursed his lips. "Of course...I cannot make promises yet, I must wait for my Amaldine. She will be home shortly." Ellie nodded. "Of course, thanks..."

She assumed Amaldine was his wife. She looked around in the kitchen and living room combination while taking a sip of her steaming tea, and a photograph collection on the drawer caught her eyes. Some of the pictures were old. Some more new...like one of a young smiling couple. They looked familiar somehow. Ellie squinted to see them better from the other side of the room, and suddenly realization hit her. She had seen them before. In the photo, there was the woman they had found dead. And the man whose death she was mostly responsible for. The couple from the prison in the other side of Nadine. Ellie almost choked on her tea. "Are you alright, missy?" the old man asked her as she was coughing. For her great relief she didn't have to answer, for right then the door opened.

"Jacques", a female voice called. "Amaldine, mon cheri, we have an American guest", the old man, now named Jacques, called back. Amaldine arrived to the living room and Ellie started instantly feeling clumsy, fat and ugly. That kind of women have that effect on you...Amaldine was delicate, but tall, and probably the most beautiful person Ellie had ever seen. Her shining white hair was on a low bun. Ellie nodded at her briefly without getting her eyes off her. The French lady's eyes were big, shiny and gray. Goddammit, Ellie thought. If there are witches in the world, this woman is one.

"Hello", she said in an accent even worse than her husbands. "Hello, ma'am", Ellie answered.

A short conversation between the French followed and in the meanwhile, Ellie emptied her cup, staring at the photo. How random. She would've never guessed she'd have to think about those two again...whatever could have happened to them? Did it have something to do with the Basterds' last visit?

"That is our daughter", Amaldine's voice interrupted her musings. "She is beautiful, yes. And her fiancé." Her voice caught a mournful tone. "But they are lost." Jacques shook his head sadly. "The Nazis...right after your team's last visit. They came here and took them away. My brave little princesse Jean-Marie.." he said.

"I'm sorry", Ellie said, surprisingly sincerely. They were strange to her, after all. She didn't know them well enough to really feel sad, but every lost innocent life was lost . Amaldine smiled at her. "Why won't you get your friends, sleep in the hay barn. It's the one on the left", she said. "Those, who fight the Nazis are always welcome under our wing."

"Thank you, ma'am, I'll take them there."

... ... ...

"I'm telling you, they were just as adverse as those sheep right there", Ellie said patiently for the umpteenth time, pointing out the door, where two sheep defied the rain. "You gotta be fucking kidding me", Donny said rather incredulously. "They hated us!" Ellie bit her lip not to laugh. "Donny dearest, even if they didn't like you, it doesn't mean they hated the whole group..." Donny snorted. "Like I didn't know how it was..."

Mike snorted a brief laugh and slouched on a pile of hay. Soon he was laying and rolling on it, digging under the layers of dry grass. "Say what ya want, but I'm glad we got in. It ain't too late to get the feeling back to my toes", he mumbled barely audibly.

Aldo looked a bit troubled. "It's a bit off. Why so sudden change of spirit?" Ellie crossed her arms. And bit her lip harder. Not to stop laughter this time, but to think. "I think I might know why that is", she told. Instantly she had everyone's attention. "The young couple we saw in the prison, when we were getting Aldo back, that dead woman was once their daughter. And the man was her fiancé. Landa's krauts took them away shortly after you left, and now these guys welcome anyone and anything Nazi-opposed."

"Did you tell them about the prison?" Aldo asked. "No. Hell no. I didn't wanna risk losing this shelter. We're gonna need it", Ellie said. "Good", Aldo said approvingly. He sat on a wooden bench and lifted his feet on a pile of hay, leaning his back to the wall. "We're all just gonna shut up about it, is that understood? Good. Now you got to sleep, all of ya. We're gonna rest 'til morning and than we'll be off to kill some Nazis."

Soon the Basterds were asleep, with the exceptions of Stiglitz, who was out on guard, and Ellie. She was sitting on her bedroll, looking down to the restless man next to her. Donny was having nightmares again. She knew better than to wake him up and ask, but she couldn't just sit there and watch. Frustrated, she just lay back down and crawled as close to him as she could. She fingered his hair gently and whispered soothing nonsense into his ear. She was almost surprised to notice it worked. Donny stopped mumbling in distress and fidgeting. His breath steadied and Ellie heard his heartbeat calm. And it calmed her, enough to fall into a sound sleep.

Outside, Stiglitz got back to the piece of wood he had been whittling. The slightest, tiniest smile crawled over his lips. The girl could stop soldier's nightmares. Sure as hell the whole team was in capable hands now.


	14. Chapter 13

**A/N:** Another one! I was fast. Me proud! Your awesome reviews helped, you know...thanks! Here you go, another chapter of Round Two. And there's a lot to come. Damn, do I have plans for this story...

... ... ...

In the morning, when Amaldine carefully cracked the barn door open, she found it empty. There was no sign of a single Basterd ever sleeping there. Not one hair was left for the "detective" Landa or his men to find, in case they would stop by for a visit. Amaldine closed the door and headed back to the main building. What she had to say could wait until the night.

... ... ...

The Basterds (except for Wicki, who had settled for a short walk and was planning on having a chat with the old couple) had already made their way to the other side of the forest, where they were hiding now in the bushes by the road. They were waiting in total silence, which was eventually broken by the sound of a car. Most Basterds grinned to themselves unconsciously. It was too long since the last time...

Mike was given the honors of stopping the car, by throwing a little self-made explosive under it. The left back tire rolled right over it, and the little explosion was enough to break the tire and gain the Nazis' attention. The car stopped and the passengers came out to see what it was all about. They cursed in German and one of them kicked the side of the car in anger. Mike winked at his sister and jumped out of the bushes.

"Hey! Did ya find my bomb?" he asked the Germans, who turned quickly turned around, most with their guns pointed at him. He lifted his hands in fake surprise. "Whoa! What's all this about? Oh, I see, the bomb...my baby... Look, ya know what they can be like, little explosives, running around on their own. Exploding everywhere. Hard to keep track on them!"

The Nazis didn't look too happy. "Who are you? What do you want from us?" one of them asked sharply. "It ain't gonna matter to you in a few, buddy", Mike answered with a smile and shivered violently. He was right, for when he finished his sentence, Hertz was already there, stabbing his knife through the krauts neck. Mike watched him cough up blood and stare back with wide eyes as life drained out of them. It was a split second of silence, until the other Nazis realized to move. The split second had been too long for them, though, the Basterds were faster. They already had a hold of every single German.

"What...what is this!" one of them yelled. "To the rest of you I have some news. I'm Michael, by the way, and we are the Basterds. Ain't it nice", Mike said, the smile still wide across his face. The Nazis paled visibly. "Now we have some questions for you..."

"Do you really think he lets us know about the plans..?" a Nazi called Joachim Eichel said in a desperate tone. "He knows you walk here free to catch us and ask questions!" Aldo looked bored as he stared at the frustrated man in front of him. The rest of their hostages were lined up a bit further, Utivich's and Hertz's guns pointed at their heads.

"Look, I don't give a shit about what he tells you or what not. All I want to know, is every fucking think you know. So spit it out", the Apache told. "But I told you already! I know nothing!" Joachim yelled. Aldo looked ever so patient.

"First off, stop yelling. It ain't helping. Second, all you said was, he doesn't tell you anything. It doesn't mean you don't know anything. Start by telling me where you were goin' with ya party there." Joachim swallowed hard and mumbled something in German, a prayer if Aldo didn't hear wrong. "We were going to the Moliere farm."

Aldo frowned. "Say, what?" The German lifted his gaze carefully. "Moliere farm is close here, on the other side of the forest. They are an old-" "I know damn well where it is and who they are!" Aldo interrupted. "What I want to know is why the hell you would go there?" Joachim flinched and swallowed again.

"Their girl was in the same prison with Aldo the A...with-with you", he told. "We had to ask if she had something to do with the Baster...you. You." Aldo shook his head. "My friend Hans has lost the last of his senses..." Joachim didn't dare to say a word. "Wow. He's gettin' desperate to find us", Donny noted. "This a bit of a long shot."

"I dunno, Donny", Aldo said and stood up. "Landa has always been damn good at guessing. He might know more than he shows." He took a few steps away from the captive and turned around to face him again. "Is he going somewhere?"

Ellie, who sat on a rock near them, lifted her gaze to Aldo. Now he had lost even her. He hadn't lost Joachim, though. The captive inhaled sharply and the Basterds construed it as a 'yes'. "Where?" Aldo asked. Joachim looked troubled. "He's...he's going to a conference! Just a conference with his closest-"

"If I were you", Aldo interrupted again, "this would be the time I stopped lying." He's voice was sinister enough to make the German lower his head. "He is planning to go to Finland."

"What?" Dominick was the first to comment on his low voice. Joachim kept his eyes downcast and said: "I've heard rumors that say that...the Apache's family is in Finland. His wife. And children..." Aldo started digging his pocket for his sniff. "So he's plannin' on using that to make me surrender. He's goin' for my family. He doesn't know so much after all."

"That's damn bad news for you guys", Ellie said, pointing his Indian-knife at the Nazis. "Now you know way too much." She watched one of the captives go pale and start opening and closing his mouth in a panic like state, where as another one only closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The two others shared a glance and a simultaneous gulp. Ellie found it amusing and chuckled to herself, before throwing the knife forth.

It hit the most scared one square on the forehead. Utivich, who was standing behind the now dead Nazi, gave her a questioning look. "That was kinda sudden..." he commented. Ellie shrugged. "I thought I'd let him outta his misery. He looked so scared", she told casually. Utivich accepted the explanation with a shrug and proceeded on blasting the others' heads. The only one left now, was Joachim.

He understood his situation. His pleading eyes were wandering around, and settled to Aldo's absent gaze. He appeared to be in another world. It didn't stop Joachim from trying. "Please... Sir, don't kill me. Please. I don't want to die." Aldo gave him a brief glance. "Then what would you want to do? Go back to your führer?" Joachim realized he had no answer.

Understanding how your life has been meaningless, with no family or loved ones, how you have given your best years for a mad tyrant... It would be hard for anyone. Joachim closed his eyes and few lonely tears escaped from under his eyelids. They shot open though, when a knife was forced through his heart.

"Trust me Joachim, you're going to a so much better place now. Don't be scared", she assured gently and rubbed his hair until his body went lifeless and eyes, that were still on Aldo, lost their shine. The Apache lifted his gaze from the dead man to his daughter. "Have you gone soft?" Ellie laughed. "No, dad, ain't any softer. I'm just a woman."

The truth was, that she still didn't mind. She could still kill with a smile on her face, if it was for the right cause. And it still bothered her, as it had in the beginning of the mission. Looking into so frightened eyes and being able to just coldly take the life away from them... She would just have to try to accept it. They had more urgent issues to think about. Like how to make sure Landa is really going to Finland, and if yes, how to get there.

... ... ...

While the other Basterds caught Nazis, Wicki returned to the farm from his walk. He had been testing his condition. As it happened, it was lousy. He returned to the yard all pale and exhausted, with a throbbing headache. Great. But he couldn't forget what he had to do, just because he happened to feel a bit sick. So instead of the inviting piles of hay in the barn, he sighed heavily and headed to the cottage that acted as the main building.

He knocked on the door and soon Amaldine arrived to open it. She had changed to proper clothes regardless of the early hour. "Hello, young man! Come in, please", she said with a wide smile and stepped out of the way. Wicki entered the house in a bit astonished state of mind. Young man..? It had been quite a while since he had been called young man. Beside that, he was suspicious. Who would welcome a total stranger in to her house with such happiness?

"Good morning, ma'am. Thank you for your hospitality", he said. "Oh, nonsense...Jacques and I are happy to help. Please sit down. I will make a good cup of tea", Amaldine said and gestured towards the kitchen table. Wicki pulled out a chair and sat. He looked around and said: "You have a very beautiful house."

Amaldine smiled even wider and looked like an angel. "Thank you very much! We are happy here." It might have been the accent, but Wicki noticed some phoniness in her voice. However beautiful she was with her smile, it didn't reach her eyes. He frowned, partly for his headache. Partly for not being sure what to do about his doubts.

Amaldine set the teacup in front of him and sat to the opposite side of the table. Wicki mumbled his thanks. "Are you okay?" Amaldine asked and a little frown settled on her brow. Wicki lifted his gaze from his tea to her. "You look terribly pale..." Wicki managed a smile. "It's just a headache. I'm fine, thanks", he answered. Amaldine smiled knowingly. "I see...take a sip of tea. It will help."

Wicki obeyed and noticed the tea was delicious. Although it didn't really have an effect on his headache. He looked around the house again, and his gaze traveled to the window. It was a chilly morning and there was frost on the ground. He had to fight to keep his poker face, when he saw Liebermann walk from the woods to the yard and into the barn. He looked at his cup again, to avoid drawing Amaldine's attention to Liebermann, but there was no such danger; she was too concentrated on scraping some dirt from the side of the table. He frowned and took another sip of tea. "Thank you again, ma'am. This is delicious", he complimented. "Oh, nonsense", the hostess said again. "I'm glad you like it."

While drinking the rest of his tea, his suspicions grew worse. Maybe drinking it wasn't such a good idea after all. Why had Liebermann came back to the farm before the others, and what was he doing in the barn? He glanced at the old lady in front of him. Her gaze was empty, but what can you expect from a woman who has recently lost her daughter and who's being questioned by Nazis every once in a while? The more Wicki thought about it, the harder it became to shake the feeling that something was off. Badly.

He set his cup down on the saucer and the little noise woke Amaldine from her musings. "I'm afraid I must go now. " "Already?" Amaldine asked. "Yes ma'am. I've already held my team waiting for too long." An eerie smile lit Amaldine's face. "Yes, of course. Good bye, then."

Wicki headed straight through the yard towards the barn. He checked the main building's window and was happy to notice the creepy hostess was not there anymore. The barn door was almost closed and when Wicki went closer, he started hearing speaking from inside. He swiftly moved to press against the wall close to the door and stayed still, listening.

"You darn Américain... You and your équipe will all meet your ends here..."Wicki held his breath. That French accent... Jacques Moliere. "Nazis pay for your heads. Good prices." Another voice snorted. "You two-faced piece of shit. You scumbag. You baguette-munching brainless chicken!" This other voice was certainly not French, and Wicki recognized Liebermann's wheezy curses. They sounded even wheezier than before. Damn, Wicki thought and grimaced to himself. His luck was unbelievable. Unbelievably _bad_.

"Quiet!" Jacques told him sharply. "My daughter died because of you! I refuse to sacrifice another thing." "Your little slut didn't even see the Basterds last time they were here. How come she has died for them, you moron!" Liebermann barked. He sounded tired. Was he hurt? "Someone had to take the blame! She was an open-minded girl. She was the perfect...scapegoat!" A silence followed.

"You...You FRAMED YOUR OWN DAUGHTER, YOU DIPSHIT! YOU WORTHLESS-" Wicki heard a gunshot from the barn and flinched. He could feel his heart beat. That Frenchman...he didn't just...

"Good bye, vieux crouton. I hope you enjoyed your poor life."

Yes. He did. Shit.


	15. Chapter 14

**A/N: **I am so so **so sorry** that this short piece of crap took me so painfully long time. I really am. I wonder if anyone's reading this anymore, but anyway...I promised to finish it. Even if it takes me forever. For some odd reason, this story is proving to be quite a challenge. If anyone's there, please review? Even though this chapter sucks, please let me know you're reading !

**Disclaimer: **I own only the plot of this fiction, not the original idea. A mastermind called Quentin Tarantino owns practically everything, except for a couple of my own characters.

... ... ...

Wicki ran. He ignored the throbbing pain in his head and ran as fast as he possibly could. He had to find the Basterds before they returned to the farm. If he didn't, someone would get hurt. Liebermann was already dead. Dead. Wicki had never particularly liked him, but his bravery in front of a mad Frenchman and a gun had impressed the younger Basterd. Now he wanted to make sure no one else needed to prove their bravery.

Luckily Wicki didn't have to run for long. He could hear his team before he could see them - quiet chatting near by told him where to head. Soon he saw the others walking towards the farm.

"Wicki? What the hell", Ellie frowned. "What's wrong?" Wicki stopped in front of them to catch his breath. He cursed to himself as his vision blurred and legs threatened to give up under him. Stiglitz took a hold of his arm before he fell.

"Whoa. Sit down, will ya", Aldo said and Stiglitz gently pulled the corporal down. Aldo crouched, too. "Now, what got ya runnin' around like that? Obviously, ou're not in the shape to do so."

"We were betrayed", Wicki sighed. He lifted his blurry gaze up, towards his teammates. "Liebermann was killed. By Jacques Moliere..."

"I knew there was somethin' fishy about them", Ellie mumbled and frowned. "I thought she just had hard time getting over their daughter's disappearance." Wicki shook his head lightly. "Nah...They set her up... They told Landa she was the one sheltering us last time", he told. Ellie made a quiet sound of disgust. The woman in the prison... She had been sentenced to death by her own parents! The fact made their story even more tragic.

The Basterds were now shifting restlessly and exchanging looks. What could they do now? Aldo, as well as his children, could sense the atmosphere. Dom was first to speak: "We need to find a new shelter as soon as possible."

For once, Ellie agreed. "Yeah. But we also have to try and get closer to Landa. It ain't nice, but our goal has changed a bit", she said. Wicki, whose vision was getting clearer, gave her a questioning glance. Then he looked up to Stiglitz, who was standing above him. The Dutchman answered the look and explained: "We heard Landa could be heading to Finland. To get lieutenants family."

"Yeah, but that ain't gonna happen", Mike announced and shivered. "No... Helena and Mina are in Sweden. There's still that damn conference Landa's planning on attending to", Aldo mused. "We should probably just try and kill him here, before he leaves. Or right after his return. Either way, we should be heading towards the pretty Paris."

"We gotta regroup. Some of us ain't strong enough to walk", Dom said emotionlessly as ever. Mike frowned at him, but against his nature stayed quiet. Ellie on the other hand couldn't. "Dominick, non of us is _strong enough_ to run all the way to Paris _fast enough_ to stop Landa from entering his plane, which he might already have done. Besides, even the strongest might prefer the cars we just got from those generous krauts", she concluded. Dom only snorted in return.

Ellie opened her mouth to demand an explanation for her older brother's disrespectful behavior, but decided to close it instead. Their stupid problems could wait. Aldo considered the two possibilities. A car would get them there faster, but it would also make them easier to notice. Walking on the other hand, was out of the question and the lieutenant thought it best not to interfere his daughter's decisions. "Let's head to the cars", Ellie made her opinion clear. Her team obeyed without a question.

They had lost Liebermann. It hit Ellie with full force as the Basterds walked towards the cars. One of them had died. Yes, he happened to be their grumpiest, oldest and the most wrinkled member, but a part of the team nonetheless. Ellie's frown didn't go unnoticed. "Why the long face?" Donny, who had just caught up with her, asked. "Everyone seems to forget we really just lost a man here..." she mumbled. Donny frowned too, and Ellie could almost see how his brain was working. "Oh? Oh, yeah, yeah...Liebermann." Donny thought a moment longer and shrugged. "That geezer had it coming. 'Tis war here", he noted nonchalantly.

Ellie gave her a long look. "I guess you're right 'bout that", she said. Truthfully, she was glad she wasn't the only one who thought so. Donny gave her a playful glance. "Of course I am right."

They reached the cars soon and settled into one of them. All ten Basterds, two in the front and eight in the back, few on the floor and Wicki almost sleeping on the other bench. Dom started off as the driver.

The weight of the situation was slowly sinking into their heads. They were headed straight to the real lion's lair, to the place where they would most likely face Hans Landa and his security guards. Their only option was to succeed, there would be no chance to try again. They had no idea what was waiting for them in Paris, an empty office or the Führer himself, or perhaps a trip to another country... No matter what, getting there would most certainly be a challenge. Not to mention getting out of there - alive.

Ellie took a deep breath and leaned her head on the Bear Jew's shoulder. She might as well try to get some sleep.


	16. Chapter 15

**A/N:** Okay. This came out sooner than I thought... And in the middle of the night, surprisingly. So, my apologies for all the mistakes you might find... Thank you for the reviews ! They are like Muses to me. Very motivating ! :) Please, do review. It won't take a lot of your time. Now, on with the story...

... ... ...

"Miss Ellie? Hey, wake up, we're almost there", she heard someone say. She was gently shaken by the shoulder. "Geez, who taught her to sleep..."

"Dad did", she mumbled and started fighting to get her eyes open. She yawned and then looked around in the car, frowning. "Oh yeah, we're here."

"Yeah, we are", Donny laughed out loud in amusement. "It was your idea." Ellie looked straight up and straight into the dark eyes of the infamous Bear Jew. "I know." She had to fight the urge to reach up and kiss the man. Time and place...

The place they were at the moment was much to Ellie's liking. They were finally on their way to actually do something about killing Landa, the devil himself, instead of those pathetic little demons of his, running around the forest. They had already caused enough harm, and one concrete example was laying right in front of her.

Wicki, blissfully asleep, hadn't had a chance to heal from his first injuries after saving Aldo and now he had had to run around with a concussion and a fever. Ellie bit her lip thoughtfully. They hadn't had time to check the first wound in a while...

She leaned forth and slowly took Wicki's arm from where it was resting, as the rest of the Basterds were silently observing. She rolled up the sleeve carefully to avoid waking him up. He still had a bandage on the injury, and when Ellie removed it, she saw something that made him exclaim quietly. The wound hadn't healed, not at all. Instead, it was exuding blood and something that certainly didn't look healthy. The edges of the bullet made hole were red and rough; even Ellie could tell it was infected. Shit.

"Wicki, you son of a... Fever from the concussion, my ass..." she cursed under her breath. Utivich, who was sitting on the floor of the truck, shifted closer. "I thought that arm wasn't supposed to be a problem anymore", he said lifting his brows. "Wicki kept telling me it was just sore, naturally, but nothing worth checking."

"Damn you soldiers and your pride... A grown up man and still playing stupid games", Ellie said, shaking her head. "Well, now we'll have to stop to rest."

And they did. The truck stopped to a small clearing, a bit too close to the border of the forest for their liking. They first tried to wake Wicki up but he wouldn't stir, so he had to be carried out and laid down to a bedroll. The team started working on a shelter around him. Just so it wouldn't be too easy on them, the sky darkened and the first drops of rain fell before the shelter was ready.

"Okay, listen up everybody", Aldo said when they where finally safely under the tarps, "We're really close now. And we're nowhere near safe 'ere. We need to be ready for _anything_, Wicki is big enough a concern right now. We have lost one of our own already and we're not planning on losing another. Am I making myself clear?"

"Yes, sir!" the Basterds chorused. Only one of them was silent, and it didn't go unnoticed. "Dominick Raine. Am I making myself clear?" Aldo asked again, this time directing his words to Dom. The younger Raine nodded his head, not bothering to look up. "Unfortunately, sir", he said.

Aldo took a brisk step closer to his son. "Stand up straight and look at your superior officer when spoken to", he said and everybody could tell he was serious. The look on his narrowed eyes didn't lie. Dom lifted his gaze reluctantly. "Yes, sir", he said.

Aldo didn't look convinced, but relaxed. "What's your problem, Dom?"

"You sure you wanna know?" Dom asked and when Aldo nodded, he pointed a finger at Ellie. "She's my problem. Our problem." Mike snickered and twitched. "Ohh, this ain't good at all..." Aldo sat down on to his backpack and crossed his arms. "Then now is a good time to solve that problem. I ain't gonna allow bad blood among my men."

Ellie rubbed her face with her palm and sighed. Then she threw her arms in the air and said: "Go on then. I'm curious. What have I done?"

Dom shook his head and moved out of the shelter. Outside in the rain, he waited for Ellie to follow him. She did, reluctantly. In a distance they thought was safe, they confronted each other. Ellie crossed her arms and waited.

"Your naivety is gonna cost us our lives", Dom then simply stated. "What the fuck", the woman moaned. "My so called naivety has another name - common sense. I don't know why you're so eager to get us all killed sooner than necessary and separated from each other, but that ain't gonna happen."

"What sense does it make, to pause our mission and just wait here for that man to die? He'll die without us waiting. Now we're just wasting precious time", Dom asked. "The mission is our priority."

"Are you seriously suggesting we leave every wounded man behind?" Ellie asked rather incredulously. "Now, see, that's the problem. The military has turned you to a fucking machine. Sure, to participate to a mission like this, you need to be tough and ready to kill without weeping. But betraying your own team by not caring if they live or die?" She snorted. "Why did you come here in the first place, Dom? You knew I'd be 'ere. And you sure as hell know I outrank you."

Dom glared at his sister and she answered the murderous look. Then he lowered his gaze and shook his head. "You're the boss, sis. Whatever you say. At least I didn't sleep with the staff to get my rank." Ellie's jaw dropped. His own brother... "You've crossed the line, Dom! I never thought you would believe everything you're told. I've seriously misjudged you."

"Come on, Eleonore. We both know it ain't no lie..." Dom snorted. Ellie stared at her brother with a deep frown on her face. The biggest problem seemed to be something else than she had originally thought. "So... You hold a grudge against me because you don't think I have earned my rank. Is that it? 'Cause if it is, there's a very easy way to find out whether it's true or not."

The siblings stared at each other intensely. They were already soaking wet, but neither of them really noticed. Eventually they heard someone cough near by. Both turned to face the direction of the noise. Mike was standing there, his hands in his pockets and a worried look on his face. "Ellis, that ain't nice... Can you just, you know, leave it? Please, sis, not like he really meant any of that", he said with a shrug. Dom took a step closer to him.

"Shut up, dimwit, you're help is the last thing I need. You should've stayed home, you ain't nothing but a burden here..." He talked as if he had finally lost his nerve. "This was between us two. Get lost. Go cry at dad."

Mike shivered and made a sudden noise. His head flew to a side as if he had been hit. He looked troubled as his gaze fell to the ground. "Ellis..."

"Yeah", Ellie, who had been able to only stare at her bigger brother during his outburst, said now firmly, "Dominick, that's it. If you ain't got no respect for your teammates, you ain't no part of the team. You stay in watch this night, and tomorrow we'll see if you can work with us." Her tone left no room to argue and after another moment of glaring, Dom left to take his post.

Mike looked so miserable, it made Ellie feel bad for the whole argument. "Mickey... You shouldn't look so sad", she said and walked to Mike, wet mold making quiet squelching sounds under her feet. "It wasn't about you, you just happened to be here when Dom needed someone to take his frustration out on. He didn't mean it."

"We both know he did..." Mike said, still avoiding Ellie's eyes. "He's always felt that way. This ain't the only time he's said it, either." And Ellie knew Mike was right, she could remember it. Even though it had been years and years since Dom last talked to Mike like that, she could still remember the consequences.

"Mickey, hey, don't think about that", Ellie said. She took a gentle hold of the back of his brother's head and turned his face to meet hers. "Don't do it to yourself. You're just as valuable as any of us."

Mike sighed and bit his lip. "I love you, sis, I could never say it often enough", he said and suddenly hugged Ellie tight. She let out a worn laughter. "You silly...I love you, too."

... ... ... ...

That night Ellie couldn't sleep. Aldo had agreed with her decision to question Dom's participation. Well, not quite agreed, but approved. He was reluctant to consider giving up a good man, his son, but he knew better than to question Ellie in such matter. They would see to it in the morning.

But even with Aldo's blessing, she felt off. As if things were falling apart right into her hands. She had a man fighting for his life, an argument with another and no idea whatsoever if they were even close to catching Landa. Earlier it had seemed so much more likely for them to get him. How could they possibly...

No. That's it, no more shit like that, Ellie told herself. She was too tired to see things clearly and thereby it would be foolish to even try and work things out in the middle of the night. Every problem she had could wait until the morning.

Donny shifted in his sleep. He groaned and turned to face Ellie. She looked at the sleeping man and sighed. He was having nightmares. She maneuvered her arm under his head and wrapped the other around his shoulder. She shifted closer. Now Donny's face was resting against her chest and she was positioned protectively around his head.

"Donny, my hairy, smelly, filthy maniac of a Jew soldier..." she mumbled in a mere whisper. "You stupid, brainless gorilla, what am I gonna do with you?"

Donny took a deep breath, threw an arm around the woman and continued sleeping, more calmly this time. Ellie's eyes closed slowly.

From the corner by Wicki's bedroll, two sharp eyes however didn't. Stiglitz wasn't sleeping, but now there was this faintest smile on his lips. He still had the feeling their mission would eventually, after all the trouble, be a success.


	17. Chapter 16

**A/N: **You know, I'm writing this the second time today, in the f-ing Christmas eve, because I failed to save the previous version. How nice. Anyway...I'm so really sorry ONCE AGAIN that it has taken me this long to get this written. I know how it feels to have to wait for a year for a new chapter of a story you like. It sucks. Assuming there's still someone out there, who likes this story... Another apology is needed for the quality of this chapter. It's lousy. But hey, only a chapter or two left after this one, bare with me! And merry Christmas people, give me the best possible gift and review :)

**Disclaimer: **All hail Tarantino, the mastermind of our generation !

... ... ...

It didn't rain in the morning anymore, but the weather was chilly and gray. Dominick sat outside the cover and kept staring forth, seeing nothing. He was wet and cold, but the winters of Finland had taught him how to manage it.

"Son", someone said right next to him, making him jump a little in the inside. Outside he seemed unaffected. "Father", he answered Aldo. The lieutenant sat next to him and started looking for his snuff. When he finally found it, he sighed.

"Why can't you just be the grown up here, Dom?" he asked quietly. Dominick gave him a sharp look. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means", Aldo sighed again, "That you need to stop this bullshit and listen to your superiors. I know Ell' ain't always as professional as she should, but she's got the lead of this operation." Dom looked forth again and to Aldo he looked as if he wanted to say something. Nothing came out.

"Look. She'll really throw your sorry ass out if you refuse to obey, and then there ain't nothing I can do", Aldo told. "There's a Nazi who needs to die here, and he ain't gonna die anytime soon unless we help him a lil' bit."

Dom considered Aldo's words for a moment and eventually he had to agree. Killing Landa was their top priority now and he needed to keep it in mind. Aldo gave him a fatherly pat on the shoulder and stood up. "It's time to wake up", he said and left for the cover. Dom followed trait.

… … …

"It ain't looking too good here", Ellie mumbled. She was checking still unconscious Wicki's pulse and getting slow and uneven readings. Ever expressionless Stiglitz was kneeling by the bedroll. After a moment of frowning at the wounded, Ellie looked up to Stiglitz in worry. "Now I don't know what to do", she quietly admitted. "I mean…" she straightened her back and sighed. "We're gonna have to proceed with the mission. Really. But leaving him behind is not an option."

Ellie tried furiously to come up with a plan that wouldn't include dumping a comrade or delaying the assassination of Landa, but it had never been harder to think clearly. Stiglitz let the silence linger for a moment before saying: "Sometimes the leader must make the hardest decisions."

"This is gonna be one of those… Goddammit, do I really have to… Blergh", Ellie inchoately mused out loud. Without explaining himself to Stiglitz, she left the cover. Stiglitz stayed a moment longer, looking at Wicki. Some emotion was now visible in his stone cold eyes - he had lost fellow soldiers in the past, but never before had anyone been a real comrade. Eventually he followed Ellie outside, where the others were waiting for instructions.

… … …

"Okay… We're gettin' pretty close to where Landa is supposed to be now. I bet ya'll agree we want him six feet under as soon as possible. We have one obstacle on the way though, and our guns ain't gonna help us get through this one."

Everyone sat silently listening to Ellie's speech. They knew what she was talking about.

"I hate doing this, but I think we have only one possible solution to this crappy situation. One of us in gonna have to stay here with Wicki and the others will proceed with the mission."

A suffocating silence hung over the Basterds as she thought through her men. Who could she afford to leave here? A tiny voice in the corner of her mind cried Dominick, but her common sense silenced it. No matter how childish or bitter, Dom was a great soldier, but absolutely the wrong type for this. Her eyes stopped at Hertz, who answered her gaze with his big, frightened eyes.

"Allan…I know it's gonna be tough, but you're the best in close combat", Ellie said in a serious tone. Hertz's cheeks changed from ghostly pale to slight pink, which made the corner of Ellie's mouth twitch in amusement. "Will you stay here and look after Wicki, until we hopefully return after a successful murder?"

"But…Miss. Raine…I couldn't possib…" Hertz stuttered at first, "…Y-ye…Ash…" Everyone waited. He closed his eyes for a moment and when he opened them again, they were steadier. "Yes, ma'am, I will do that."

"Great", Ellie approved and nodded. "The rest of you mutts - get ready to move out. You've got two minutes."

Ellie watched his men pick up whatever bags they bothered to carry. She already had hers. Scenarios ran through her head as she thought of what was waiting for them. Their plan for this particular attack included staying unnoticed as long as possible, but eventually someone would spot them…then what? Then hell would break loose. If only, if not more than one of them, would get through to Landa, all he would need is one single bullet. Or knowing the Basterds, one working limb could do the trick.

"Miss. Ellie", Utivich said with a frown on his face, "I know we're close to Paris, but when we get there, what the hell then?" The woman grimaced. "Well… We could start by changing into some nice, fittin' Nazi uniforms. Then we walk through the town, hoping they ain't got our faces on the newspapers and I don't know…pose as Landa's messengers to get in?" she suggested shaking her head. "Naw, we'll figure out something like that", she said and waved dismissively.

Really, she was scared. At first, she didn't know why, but when her eyes locked with Donny's, she realized. On her previous missions, none quite as ambitious as the one she was now facing, she had had nothing to lose. Realizing how she now had everything to lose scared her even more. She almost laughed at herself. She was scared of being scared. Oh for the love of… But if Donny _died_…No. She needed to stop this. No such thoughts now.

"Okay", she said and scratched her head. "Let's just get goin'."

… … …

"I suppose we should be going that way", Ulmer said and turned the map around in his hands. "No, wait. It's definitely that way." Utivich snorted and gave Ulmer a pat on the shoulder. "It doesn't look too convincing if we walk around with a map, does it now", Utivich said. Ulmer just shook his head in irritation.

"I feel like a fucking tourist around here", Donny mumbled to himself. Others agreed but kept walking on. One problem remained - how to get in to the right building when they find it. They needed to speak French or German, and neither worked that well for them. They had Stiglitz, but the Dutchman had to hide his face as it was - some could still remember and recognise the Hugo Stiglitz, Gestapo murderer. People walked by, but they seemed to be careful not to look at the Basterds, which of course fit the team better than well. Landa's soldiers were apparently not very popular.

"So. We're German soldiers, on our way to an important appointment with the boss… We've been doing research about the Basterds! Awesome", Mike laughed and shivered violently. "No! We're the Americans he has hired. Americans so we would better understand Americans, haha", he went on. Ellie snorted a laughter. "That's the best we've got. It's worth the try I guess…"

"Honestly", Dom sneered before he could stop himself. Ellie gave him a sharp look, but managed to hold back her response. Surprisingly Stiglitz spoke next: "The crazier the explanation, the more believable it is in situations like these." No one dared to argue and the team kept walking.

"There it is", Ellie mumbled when they finally saw a fancy looking building with German soldiers on both sides of the door. "That's one fine lookin' house he has there", Donny mused with a smile on his face. He was about to continue walking, but Ellie stopped him with a wave of her hand.

"You can't just barge in there", she scolded. "We gotta think. Has anyone seen those guys before? 'Cause if they recognize us, we'd be pretty much walking into our deaths." The Basterds were silent for a moment, until Utivich shook his head.

"Nope. I haven't seen them before", he said. A series of agreements and nods followed. "Fair enough", Ellie agreed. "Let's go. And let me do the talking."

She led the team forward and stopped in front of the guards, who were suspiciously eyeing them. Ellie ignored the fact and saluted. The Basterds followed trait.

"Soldiers. We're to report to führer Landa immediately", she said and looked the other guard straight in the eyes. She hoped they understood and spoke English…

"Who are you? What business do you have here?" the guard closer to Ellie asked with a heavy German accent. Ellie had to think fast.

"I'm lieutenant Nora Rainier, a German-American soldier. My team was assigned to investigate a guerrilla team named the Basterds. We have come to report our progress", she told him without blinking an eye. For a moment, a tiny fleeting heartbeat, it seemed successful.

That moment was cut short by the other guard. He started gesturing to the back of the group, where Aldo, Stiglitz and Donny were standing, hanging their heads just enough for the caps to cover their faces. Ellie suppressed a grimace as the English-speaking guard turned to them too. "You there! Show your faces", he yelled.

Ellie turned to the Basterds and as the three men on the back proceeded to remove their hats, she started soundlessly counting down from three. When she reached one, many things happened at the same time.

Aldo, Stiglitz and Donny showed their faces, the Germans immediately recognized them and pointed their guns and the Basterds pulled out theirs. Needless to say, they were faster. When the guards' dead bodies hit the ground, they were already inside.

No further instructions were needed. They instinctively formed pairs and split up to search for Landa's office. Ellie took the first turn left with Stiglitz, Utivich and Mike went right, Ulmer and Dominick took the next turn left and Aldo continued forth with Donny. Hallways filled with yelling and gunshots as the Basterds made their way.

The God must've taken this mission as his own, Ellie thought while running. To think we're still alive… If we can pull this through, I'll start praying every fucking day.

In the meantime Aldo and Donny found themselves from a dead end. They had turned left in the end of the hallway, but there was nothing there. No doors, no turns, no stairs. The duo stopped to think.

"Well, fuck", Donny mumbled and walked around a circle. Aldo shrugged. "I guess we're gonna have to take the latest turn", he said and they jogged back toward the turn Dom and Ulmer had taken.

There they found a staircase up and down and a pile of bloody Nazi corpses. Donny was about to rush upstairs, but Aldo's call stopped him. "Donny! Wait a second now", he said. "You gotta think a little. Where do you think Dom and Ulmer went?"

Donny frowned, shrugged and tilted his head a bit. "Upstairs?" he then suggested. "Exactly", Aldo nodded. "Then we ought to go downstairs."

Donny frowned. "I thought you hated fightin' in a basement", he said. "I do! Who the fuck would want to fight in a basement? But Landa is just so fucking full of himself." Donny still looked like he had hard time understanding the lieutenants brain function. Aldo pinched the bridge of his nose. "Let's just go downstairs, you dimwit."

They ended up to a big hall. The lights were dim and altogether it looked like absolutely nothing important took place there. That was exactly what Aldo had wanted to find. He knew Landa well enough to know that that type of silence always meant something fishy was going on. Both Aldo and Donny looked around the room, memorizing every inch of it.

There were three doors on the other side of the hall and nothing to take cover behind if something was to happen. "I'm absolutely goddamn sure he's behind one of those doors", Aldo mumbled under his breath. Donny nodded. They started slowly walking through the hall, ready for anything.

Somewhere above them Ellie was panting heavily and dripping with blood. There had been a whole patrol in one of the rooms they had passed and those apparently French soldiers had been fast. So fast they had ended up in a fist fight. Ellie's nose was bleeding and she had swallowed one of her teeth. Stiglitz had nothing more than a split lip. All the Frenchmen were unconscious or dead, so Ellie counted it as a success.

"Okay", she sighed and pulled her hair back up. She really should've cut it short. Men had trouble understanding how troublesome it was when someone pulled her hair.

Suddenly they heard someone yelling in German, from a room near by. Ellie and Stiglitz shared a quick glance The Duchman lifted his gun and Ellie yanked the door open. A startled voice started talking in German and Stiglitz stepped in. Ellie followed him and saw a man standing behind his desk. He looked somehow familiar, but Ellie couldn't put a finger on it. Stiglitz on the other hand could.

"Josef Mengele", he growled the name out like it was poisonous. Ellie's mouth fell open. Now she recognised him too. The angel of death. Ellie's blood boiled and she rushed forth to grip the back of the man's neck.

"Tell us where that son of a bitch Landa is and we'll give you a painless death", she hissed. Stiglitz translated in a venomous tone. Mengele stuttered. Ellie banged his head to the desk and it required her almost inhuman amounts of self control not to just rip his head off. Blood spilled from the wound he now had on his forehead.

Mengele spoke. Ellie didn't understand a word, but Stiglitz caught every single one. When Mengele's tone reached a begging tone. Ellie figured he was done. After getting a confirmation from Stiglitz, she grudgingly let go of Mengele. Stiglitz had no mercy and soon the angel of death was where he belonged - at the doors of hell. The two Basterds stared at the corpse for a while, both thinking they had let him out too easily. He should've suffered.

"I guess we better go", Ellie eventually said. Stiglitz nodded. "He's in the basement", he said.

"Okay. Lead the way, Stiglitz."


	18. Chapter 17

**A/N:** I am so so so so _so SORRY_ about how goddamn long it took me to update. It's been what, a year? Over a year! A lot has happened in over a year, including a new laptop. I know it's not an excuse, but... It's the best I have! I'm so sorry. I'm determined to finish this story, and God knows we're almost done...

I worked so hard for this story when I started it, I think it deserves to be finished, too. I have no idea how bad it'll turn out to be. I do know that the beginning of this chapter sucks. It was incredibly hard to jump back into this world and I had to read the story so far like five times and watch the movie two times. But here we are. The next chapter of Round Two.

... ... ...

Ellie and Stiglitz slowly made their way down the stairs. Ellie's hands were steady around the gun and they were ready for anything. Yet absolutely nothing came. They made it all the way down without seeing another soul. It made Ellie lightly suspicious, but she had learned, that if something was going well, she should just go with it. Problems were never too far, anyway.

They arrived to the empty hall and Ellie frowned at the three doors on the other side of the room. Well, damn. "What's the deal with these fucking mazes? Goddamn French architects..." she mumbled, only to be shushed by Stiglitz.

"Listen", the Dutchman told her quietly. Ellie froze immediately, taking in every single sound around her. Her frown deepened. Something was going on behind one of the doors. She could hear faint yelling and banging in the distance. Someone had already made it down there? Who could've made it downstairs before them? She started walking towards the door on the left, but when she was about halfway across the room, the door flew open with a loud bang. In a split second Ellie was ready to fire. Then she recognized the two men stumbling gracelessly out of the room.

"Hold!" she cried, fearing Stiglitz wouldn't see their faces in time.

"Oh, hi", Aldo greeted them breathlessly. "That ain't the right way."

"No, sir", Donny agreed, leaning his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. They both seemed to have lost their guns in the melee, and judging by the amount of blood and the dead Nazis Ellie could see when she peeked into the room, it had been quite a fist fight.

"Oh", Ellie said. She pushed aside the relief of seeing Donny alive and well and kicked the door shut. "Then what do you say we try another one?"

No one objected, and she positioned herself by the wall next to the door in the middle. She nodded a sign to Donny, who yanked the door open. A dimly lid, empty corridor opened before them. Ellie lowered her gun and stepped in, her heart racing and jaw clenching. An overpowering feeling of being close to what they were after washed over her. Landa was definitely there.

Sometimes, when something nice is about to happen, the best part is waiting for it. The anticipation and excitement when thinking about the nice thing stirs a great feeling of joy. This was not one of those times. This was one of those things that were at their best afterward, when the thing itself was over, and the memories and consequences would remain. Oh, how Ellie wanted Landa dead. The thought made her pick up a slightly faster pace.

"I can _smell_ him", Donny said, his voice quivering with anticipation. Ellie briefly wondered if he enjoyed the hunt more than the kill.

"Yep, he's 'ere", Aldo agreed.

The corridor had one turn to the left and a single white door at the end of it. When they reached it, they stopped. Ellie slowly lifted her hand to try the handle, but it was locked. Duh. So, she stepped aside, giving Donny some room to work his magic, which, this time, was an adrenaline-strengthened kick near the handle. The door broke easily and Ellie jumped in with Stiglitz, their guns lifted and ready to fire. Seeing who was in that room made both want to. It demanded Ellie almost an inhuman amount of self control not to pull the trigger and to just step aside, to give her father room to enter. She could only imagine how hard it was for the Dutchman, who held such fury towards the Nazi leaders. Luckily Aldo could feel the rage-filled tension in the room and chose his words to lighten it up, to remind the team _they_ were in control.

"Hey, Hans! Long time, no see", he grinned. "Looks like the shoe's on the other foot, ain't that right?"

"Ah, Aldo. I must say I'm quite surprised to see you here. It seems that you saw through my little lie. I must apologize for spreading such rumor. It's just... You have once again been most troublesome", Landa said, with a look of regret on his face. "Anyhow, I'm impressed you found me."

"You mean that telltale about how you flew to the Finns after my folks? Naw, that's okay. They ain't there, see, you wouldn't find them even if you tried."

Landa smiled widely. "Oh? Well, then I'm glad I chose not to make that trip. Now, about that shoe... I must say I disagree."

"How's that?" Ellie asked, keeping her gun pointed at Landa. There was no way she was going to leave the room with that slime ball still breathing. Landa was overly confident as a person, but only when he felt he had the situation under control. Every appointment he made, he always made sure he had a way out. This was definitely not his kind of appointment, and he was definitely not in control. So, why was he so composed, so arrogant?

"Well", Landa started, shrugging in an apologetic manner, "I have the elite of French soldiers just in the next room. They must already know you are here, so it's only a matter of time before they come and you, well, die. So, I suggest you run."

"What, in that room over there?" Ellie asked, pointing to her left. As Landa's smile turned into a frown, Ellie begun to laugh. She could hear the three Basterds join in as the information sunk in. Knowing why the new Führer had been so calm, she could finally relax and enjoy the moment. He thought he was going to be saved by the men in the next room. Too bad Aldo and Donny had already met those fine French soldiers he had gathered for his protection. At the moment, they were laying lifeless on the blood soaked floor.

"Oh, you crack me up", Ellie croaked, rubbing her cramping abs. Then she looked Landa in the eyes and tilted her head, smile still dancing on her lips. "There ain't no one to save your sorry ass here, dear."

Landa looked back at her for a while, probably considering whether to believe her or not. Then his uncertain gaze wondered from face to face around the room. "You're bluffing", he finally said, not sounding too convinced.

"Are we, now", Ellie challenged him in a playful tone. He was scared and she loved it. It was time he felt some of the fear he had made so many people feel in the past. All the Jews this man was responsible for killing... No, murdering. Something hot waved in Ellie's head and for a second she saw red. It must have shown on her face, for Landa suddenly leaped from his seat to make a dash for the door on his right, the one that would lead him right to his very much dead French elite. However, his desperate attempt of escape was cut short by a single, well-aimed bullet from Stiglitz's gun.

"No", the Dutchman growled through gritted teeth. He was just as eager to see the end of this man's life. This time he had aimed for his leg – next time, given the chance, he would go for the heart.

Now that Landa was wailing and squirming on the floor before them, they faced a problem none of them had known to expect. What to do with the guy? Sure, they all had had their fantasies about all the possible ways they could shoot, bash, burn or carve the life out of him, it had been something to keep them going. But now...

Ellie frowned and crouched to see Landa's face better. The cap he'd worn had fallen, revealing a scar on his forehead. Ellie recognized her father's signature and chuckled. Aldo the Apache, the most efficient Nazi-killing machine in existence, had picked himself quite a trademark. Suddenly it all was clear to her. If someone had the right to end this maggot's miserable life, it was the Basterd leader. The original one.

"You know, you sure as hell had it coming", Ellie told Landa. "You knew there ain't no way the man who carved this 'ere tag on your skin would ever let you walk free. You should've killed 'im when you had the chance. 'Cause now he's gonna kill you."

Landa just stared at her, mumbling something incoherent about wanting to live. Ellie ignored him. She felt disgusted by the pathetic heap she had thought as a worthy opponent. He clearly wasn't used to feeling pain and yet he had the guts to call himself the fucking Führer. A coward he was. She stood up, looked over to his father and stepped back. Donny and Stiglitz nodded their approval, as the Apache stepped forward, pulling his long knife from his belt. He flipped it in the air and a slight smirk pulled at the corners of his mouth.

"We're gonna have a ball."

…... …... …...

They wondered out of the room, happy and content, their guns held lazily in one hand and faces bent into smiles - even Stiglitz didn't look quite as grim as he usually did. Blood splatters stained each and every one of them. In fact, there was very little skin color visible on Aldo's face among the slowly drying blood.

Ellie was fully aware of the stupid grin on her face, but she had no interest in trying to hide it. She was satisfied. Their mission was accomplished and now the only thing they had to worry about, was getting out of the building and into their camp in the forest. Then there was Wicki... Damn. Ellie's grin faltered. What the hell were they going to do with him? They would have to get moving as soon as they reached the camp, take their temporary base just a little deeper into the woods. Then they could settle down again, at least for a night, two at most. Someone would have to carry the wounded man and... No. Ellie shook her head to rid such thoughts. They were still in a very hostile surroundings, scattered around the building, just the way she absolutely _hated_. She could not afford to waste her concentration on something she could do nothing about from where she was.

"Hey", she said in attempt to shake her men awake. They immediately turned their attention to her. "Not to ruin your high, but we ain't done yet... We gotta gather everyone around and get the hell out of 'ere. So, how 'bout we... Uh, split up", she spat the words through a grimace, "and meet at the front door. Aldo and Donny, you find Dom and Omar and Stiglitz and myself will get Mikey and Utivich."

"Aye aye, ma'am. I mean... _Miss_ Ellie", Donny grinned and winked at her, while Aldo looked away, pretending not to notice. Ellie just pursed her lips and passed her gun on to the Bear Jew. The two men took off.

"So", Ellie sighed, turning to look at Stiglitz. "To find a needle from a haystack..." Suddenly an explosion shook the building. It was a big one, hard to place, but Ellie could tell it came from somewhere above them, from the right. "An explosive needle! That ought to help a little", she chuckled as they took off towards the source of the sound.

…... …... …...

"Mike, what the..!" Utivich cried out, holding his ears. He was pretty sure they were bleeding. "Are you out of your mind? That was too close!"

Mike just laughed. He was so used to the sounds of things blowing up, it did nothing to him anymore. It was sometimes hard for him to assess how much others could take. "So they say", he mused happily. "But that totally did the trick."

Utivich had to admit, grudgingly, that the bomber was right. Judging by what he could hear through the ringing in his ears, the shooting had stopped. At least for now. Now there was probably a full patrol of enemies making their way towards the ruckus.

The two Basterds had been chased into an almost empty room (there was someone laying on the desk, but his head was bashed into red mush), by four or so Nazis. Now that Utivich carefully peeked out through the doorway, he could see the little bomb had indeed killed their followers. The bomb Mike had thrown before they were even properly out of its way. Utivich gave the other man an angry glance. So reckless. Were all the Raines this crazy?

"Lighten up, man!" Mikey chuckled at his angry expression and twitched very characteristically. "Nooothing happened. Oh, the Nazis died, that happened. And that's awesome."

"I guess", Utivich mumbled, his frown easing a little. Now they needed to decide what to do next. Utivich didn't get much time to think about it, before they heard running footsteps approaching along the corridors. Mike grabbed another grenade from his pocket and prepared to throw it. Then he lowered his hand, frowning.

"What are you waiting for?" Utivich asked, poking him in the side. Mike shushed him and slowly pocketed the grenade.

"Yeah, we don't wanna toss that", he then decided, nodding surely. "Wouldn't wanna blast Ellis and Schtigel."

"Wouldn't... what?" Utivich started, but when he realized what he had just heard, he chocked back a laugh. He didn't think Stiglitz would appreciate this weird nickname Mike had given him. The informational side sunk in a split second later, and leaned forward to take another peek through the door.

"Hey! I thought we'd find you here", Ellie said and waved at the Jew. "Get outta there, we're leaving."

"Leaving? Did you find... Is Landa..." Utivich stumbled in his words. Ellie huffed a laugh. "Yeah, he's dead. Brutalized. Absolutely destroyed", she assured. Utivich seemed momentarily stunned by the news, before making an incredulous noise. "We actually did it, huh?"

Ellie nodded, looking pleased. "Yep. Now there ain't nothing to keep the Nazis goin'", she said. "Now what we need to do, is we need to make it out of here in one piece. Aldo and Donny are lookin' for Dom and Ulmer. We gotta head for the front door and wait for them. Unless they're already there, that is, since we're wasting time sittin' around here, chatting."

The four Basterds started making their way towards the exit. They didn't need to fight their way through, like they had when they had just entered. Now the corridors were filled with dead bodies laying around in pools of blood, while the coppery smell floated in the air. Ellie was faintly aware that the scenes before them were disturbing and more or less sickening, but she didn't feel nauseous. She couldn't bring herself to be disturbed by anything she saw. Instead, she felt deep pride for co-leading such an efficient team of soldiers. The fact that not a single enemy crossed their path had to mean they had killed almost all of them, and as far as she knew, the Basterds were unharmed. Well, relatively unharmed. Split lips, broken noses or swallowed teeth did not count, she reminded herself while wrinkling her nose experimentally. Maybe it wasn't even broken. Great, now it started bleeding again. She sniffed and spat some blood on the floor.

"You alright, Ellis?" Mike asked her, with no concern whatsoever on his face. Ellie gave him a long glance. "Never been better", she answered with a shrug. "But you already knew that." Mike snickered. "Yeah."

They made it to the door before the other half and settled down to wait for them. After a while of waiting, Ellie started pacing. Then she started biting her lower lip, and when the blood she had drawn from it mixed with the drying blood from her nose, she sighed. Okay. She was worried. What the hell could take the others so long? What if they had ran into bigger trouble than they could handle? What if they had crossed paths with more Nazis than they could kill? Maybe they had ran out of bullets, or been ambushed or... Fuck, woman, get a grip, she ordered herself and took a deep breath and held it. There was no such amount of Nazis Aldo and Donny couldn't handle. If they ran out of bullets, they would use their fists and unusually hard heads. She exhaled and felt the haze in her head clear a little. She knew they would get by. Then what was taking them so goddamn, motherfucking long!?

Ellie crossed her arms to shield herself from the twisting feeling she had in her gut. For the first time in what felt like forever, she had a moment with her own thoughts. The unbearable thought of Donny never coming. She would find him from a far corner of the building, laying in his own blood like the nameless soldiers they had seen earlier, brown eyes wide open but lifeless. She felt a chill run down her spine.

"Miss Ellie."

Ellie thanked the God for Stiglitz's calm voice, that pulled her out of her nightmare-like thoughts. She turned to look at him, the pale blue eyes looking right back at her. "They will be right here. Don't strain yourself with unnecessary worry."

"Right. Of course", Ellie nodded, feeling somewhat reassured. The Dutchman's tranquil presence had that effect on people, a feature she had learned to respect. Now she was able to unfold her arms and lean back against a wall instead of restlessly wandering back and forth before her men. She gave a sideways glance to Mike, who was quietly humming a tune no one else knew but him. There was very little that could disturb the peace of his weird mind. Utivich was holding his gun ready, in case a Nazi would find his way to them. He huffed to himself and Ellie was pretty sure he was a little nervous, too.

As it turned out, Ellie's worry had been unnecessary just like Stiglitz had told her. A little while later she could hear running footsteps of more than one man, and just after that the four remaining members of the team appeared to their sight.

"You took your sweet fucking time", Ellie had to comment, feeling just a little pissed and ridiculously relieved to see the grinning face of the Bear Jew. Aldo shook his head. "You ain't never seen a maze if you ain't seen the upstairs of this here building", he said, giving Ellie an exhausted look. "Now let's get the outta here."

... ... ...

Please, let me know if there's still someone reading. It would mean the world to me...


	19. Chapter 18

**A/N:** Hey! It took me a lot longer to post this than I thought it would, but hey, at least it didn't take a whole year again... It's not a very good chapter, to be honest, but I tried and here it is. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **Not mine, 'nuff said.

... ... ...

Paris. What a crappy little town, Ellie thought as they walked along the small allies in order to stay unnoticed. They weren't too successful, of course, bloody and ragged as they were – but at least they weren't out on the streets for all eyes to see. Since Ulmer had lost the map and they couldn't take the same public route they had came, they had to rely on their sense of direction.

"How hard can it be?" Donny had shrugged. Right. Ellie had already sensed the trouble they would soon find themselves in, but after a weak attempt of sense-speaking, she had decided to keep her mouth shut and let the happenings unfold. After all, there was no way she could convince the men they needed to stop for a second and try to figure out which way to go. She had to admit they didn't really even have such time. Still, after everything Ellie had done in her life, this had to be the most hazardous thing.

"Yeah", Aldo grunted as they stopped to a corner. "We're definitely goin' the wrong way."

Ellie had to literally bite her tongue to keep from saying 'I told you so'. Instead she just exhaled deeply and pinched the bridge of her nose, having forgotten it was still sore. Now it started bleeding again. She felt her irritation grow and a headache build up as the stupid, pointless chatting of Aldo and his men about which way to go made her want to punch every last one of them. The only silent man was Stiglitz, who was rubbing his face, looking a bit like Ellie felt. Annoyed out of his mind.

"Ten hut!" Ellie suddenly cried, not caring about the few curious passer bys. The order caught the Basterd off guard, and almost all of them jumped into attention. Aldo just looked at his daughter, his hands on his hips and a firm frown on his brow. Dominick just chose to disobey, which was enough to make Ellie burst as it was.

"Are you fucking out of your mind?" the older Raine sibling questioned her, looking incredulous. "You can't go yellin' like that around here!"

"And a bloody patrol of French soldiers arguing in English on the fucking side walks provokes a shitload less attention?" Ellie mocked her brother in a tone that left no room for arguments. Not that Dom would've found any, anyway. "That's what I figured. Now, I said _attention_." Dom grudgingly took the required position.

"Now, can we act like grown up soldiers from now on and figure out a way to make it back to the camp?" she asked, pleased to hear the men respond in unison: 'Yes, ma'am!' "Great. So... I got no idea where we are or which way to go. Do you?" she asked, turning to Aldo.

"Well, we can see that there tower over there", he answered, pointing at his left. "So, I gather we need to be headin' that way to get back to the tavern corner."

Ulmer cleared his throat, still standing in attention.

"At ease", Aldo said. "Thank you, sir", Ulmer said formally, relaxing his position. "I think we need to turn left at the tavern and follow that street out of Paris. Then we shouldn't be too far from the forest."

Aldo gave Ellie a questioning glance and the woman shrugged in response. "Like I said, I got no clue", she said. "If someone's got other ideas, speak up now. Otherwise we'll start moving."

…... …... …...

Ellie had no idea how, but eventually, numerous wrong turns and one Nazi-patrol later, they found themselves at the borders of the forest. They ran straight into the shades of the trees and stopped only when they could no longer see the open grounds. That's when Ellie had to stop to breathe. Now she had a chance to look up and mouth a silent 'thank you' towards the cloudy sky.

"Well, I'll be damned", Aldo said after catching his breath. "We actually made it. Who would've thought?"

"I sure as hell didn't", Ellie mumbled, still lightly panting. "But here we are!" She straightened her back and looked around her. Everyone was there, Aldo, Dom and Mike, Utivich and Ulmer, Stiglitz and Donny, who was standing right next to her. She had a sudden, almost irresistible urge to jump on the man's arms and kiss him like there's no tomorrow. Of course she would do no such thing. But God knew she wanted to.

The team started making it's way through the thick forest, to the direction they assumed they would find the camp from, making sure they didn't stray too far from Paris.

Mike was whistling while he walked, a low but happy tune that no one of the group recognized. He loved everything about battle, the anticipation, the thrill of success and the adrenaline of close calls. He didn't think much about dying, but if he was to die in a battle, he would do so with no regrets. After all, the risk was what made it so thrilling. And he knew nothing better than the blissful feeling that took over after a victory. It made him want to sing, but he wasn't much of a singer... So he settled with whistling. That was something he was good at.

Dom, who was walking not too far from his little brother, didn't appreciate his musical gifts. "Mike, shut it", he said through gritted teeth. Mike gave him a sideways glance and snickered quietly. He pursed his lips experimentally, but didn't whistle. Dom snorted, shaking his head. "You ain't spoiled with much brain..."

Ellie sighed inwardly. Of course, when everything seemed to be going so well... "You really need to start bitching now, Dom?" she asked, not caring to consider her choice of words. "We've won. Everything's fucking perfect! Let the guy whistle."

"_You_ have won!" Dom corrected, whirling around to face her. "After all the rules you violated just by calling the assembly back in the US, they ain't even gonna question you because you actually fucking did it. You're gonna be rewarded for down right deceiving your higher officers. That ain't right."

"Wow", Elli said, quite an incredulous look on her face. "I guess this is you bitching..."

"Don't give me that crap. You just decided to take some of the elite soldiers and drag them into a shitload of problems without consulting anyone who knows better. Just who the fuck do you think you are?" Dominick asked, throwing his hands in the air. "What you're doing ain't fair to all the people who've worked their asses off and earned their right to lead operations like this here!"

"There wasn't gonna be an operation like this here!" Ellie yelled, finally losing her cool. "They weren't gonna do a thing! If just waiting for a fucking miracle was fine by you, that's fine, but I couldn't just sit still and wait for them idiots to realize something had to be done!"

"But it wasn't your call to make. Did you ever stop to think about the consequences? What it you had failed? You would've led a team of top notch men into their deaths!" Dom went on. "And dad knew, and I know, that the war is not for children and some day you might die or end up as a captive. I didn't wanna leave him here either, but it was him who made the choice the day he joined the army."

"I'm so fucking sick of your attitude..." Ellie groaned. "Stop suggesting I didn't earn my rank, 'cause it ain't true. I worked just as hard as anyone else and I _know_ that joining the military means offering your life for something bigger. For me, it was this I chose I could die for, this goddamn operation! Because my puny life is dirt compared to Landa's existence! These men chose to offer themselves for this cause, too. It ain't for you to judge!"

"It ain't about judging, you dimwit! It's about knowing when you've crossed the line. The military works on few principles, one of which is discipline. The whole system would come crashing down if it failed! And you seem to be completely oblivious to the fact", Dom said.

"I ain't. I know how it works, Dom, but they weren't gonna do anything. They didn't think a guerrilla team could do the trick twice in a row, but they don't always know what's right", Ellie said, just as firmly.

"And you do?" Dom sneered.

"This time I did! But that ain't the point, I didn't start this to prove anything. Dad didn't deserve to be abandoned like that. And all the Nazis still weren't fucking dead! They needed to be!" Ellie cried in frustration. "Why can you not see that?"

Dom shook his head and turned away. "I guess there ain't no talking to you."

Ellie leaped forward to grab the sleeve of his jacket. "You can't just..."

She was interrupted by the sound of a gunshot. Ellie tried to muffle the cry that threatened to escape her lips, but a slight sound still managed to make it through. A searing pain spread through her leg and she fell on the ground.

"Ellie!" she heard two voices call in unison. Someone crouched next to her and the rest took off, to kill the Nazis who had sneaked up on them. Ellie wanted to scream. How could she have been so stupid? She had lulled herself into believing, that Landa's death made the forests somehow more safe for them. She had started arguing with one of her own in enemy territory and completely lost awareness on her surroundings. It was a rookie mistake. Goddammit.

"Ellis? Are you okay?" Mike asked, poking experimentally at the blood darkened spot on her pant leg. "Ow! Goddamn, motherfucking..." she cursed under her breath as she tried bending the hurt leg. It was manageable. It hurt, but she could do it. The bullet seemed to have pierced the muscle somewhere right under the left knee.

Sounds of battle pulled her back to their current situation and she pushed herself into a sitting position. The Basterds were almost done with the enemy and Ellie lowered her head. I could have been one of them, she thought. The bullet could have hit one of the men instead of her. And it could have killed. The enemy had shoot from a distance, maybe too scared of the Basterds to get any closer. That's why it hadn't killed anyone. Ellie sighed and started pushing herself up.

"Whoa, Ellis, should you be getting up?" Mike tried halfheartedly. Ellie gave him a sharp glance. "If that bitch made it to a movie premiere after bein' shot in the shank, I can do it, too. Where's the fucking theater?"

"I don't think they show Pride of the Nation anymore", Aldo, who had come just in time to hear Ellie's comment, said, while Mike snickered on the background. "So how 'bout we scram to the campsite instead?"

"Sounds like a plan", Ellie agreed, testing her leg. It would carry, but there was no way she could walk as fast as before the argument. It would just have to do. Aldo seemed to get the hang of the situation and started walking forth, much slower that before. Ellie's leg was not the only reason he wanted to proceed slower - they had all been too careless. If there was another group of Nazis anywhere near, they would've heard the gunshots and might be headed their way.

Ellie was making her way in the tail of the group, trying to find the best way to step. The uneven ground made it impossible and she started growing irritated. It was so SLOW. Not to mention it HURT. She noticed how Donny kept giving her glances over his shoulder, probably to make sure she was still there. After a moment, he stopped.

"Need help?" he asked Ellie, offering her his hand. "No", Ellie mumbled in response, but grabbed his arm nonetheless. It was a lot easier to walk, leaning half of her weight on the Bear Jew, who never faltered, not even when Ellie stumbled on a root or stepped on a stone. Now that Ellie felt more secure, there was more room in her head for unwanted thoughts to go around. Did Dom really mean what he said or was he just too pissed? Either way, they would have to wait for a better moment to talk things through. Ellie just hoped things weren't broken beyond repair.

After walking for what felt like hours, they stopped to rest for a moment. Aldo looked around him with a deep frown on his brow. They should have reached the camp already, but no one had seen a single sign of the two comrades they had left behind. "Well, ain't this just great", Aldo mused to himself.

"I don't get it", Ulmer said, looking equally confused. "We should definitely have come across the camp already."

"Yeah", Aldo agreed. "They better not have gotten caught..."

"Maybe Hertz just moved the camp? If someone found them and got away?" Utivich suggested.

"Lieutenant", a nervous voice said behind them. The whole team turned around, ready to fire in a blink of an eye. "It's me! It's me, don't shoot!" Everyone lowered their guns. Though the man's clothes were torn and dirty and face covered in mud, the voice was definitely Hertz's.

"Hertz? Where the hell did you come from?" Ellie asked laughingly and the others relaxed as well. "Err", the young soldier fidgeted, fingering the hemline of his coat. "I heard noises and, and... I thought it might be a patrol." Ellie tilted her head when he paused. "So you ran away?" Hertz lifted his gaze so fast Ellie thought his neck might snap. "No! No, I thought I could lead them somewhere else. I couldn't have them find the camp... I tried to hide the tarps, but it's not very good", he explained, gesturing towards the darkening woods. The Basterd's heads turned to that direction simultaneously, and Ellie's frown deepened.

"Oh! Oh! I see it!" Mike cried, leaning his palms to his knees and laughing like crazy. "That's _great_!" Ellie glanced at him and looked back to the direction she was supposed to see something in. There was a small hill and a huge birch. The branches hung quite low and the leaves- "Oh my God."

Ellie had to squint her eyes and take a step to the left to actually see it. They had been standing right next to the camp and completely failed to notice. The colors mixed perfectly into the molding green of the late autumn and the tarp had been covered with mold, grass and fallen leaves and it melted right into the side of the hill.

"Not very good..? Hertz that's amazing", Utivich commented. He was still staring at the cover, fearing he wouldn't be able to locate it again if he let it out of his sight. "But hey..." he frowned, looking back at the blushing soldier. "How's Wicki?"

The question drew everyone's attention back to reality. Hertz's eyes were already downcast, but the team noticed how he lowered his head even more. An unpleasant feeling spread through Ellie's stomach. "Hertz", she said sharply, when the man didn't answer. The demanding tone made him lift his nervous eyes to meet hers. "I'm sorry ma'am... He's alive, but he's been out cold the whole time. I think he's got a fever. I-I tried to make him drink some water..."

"Okay, Hertz, you've done great. We'll worry about Wicki when we settle down a little further into the forest. We can't stay this close to the town... Not after the mess we left behind", Ellie said, trying to convince herself as much as Hertz that they didn't have the time to start fussing over Wicki there.

"Right! What happened, d-did you find him?" Hertz asked, looking from a Basterd to another. His gaze stopped at Ellie again, his eyes widening a little. "Miss Ellie..! What happened to your leg?"

Ellie let out a low, mirthless chuckle. "Landa? Yeah, we found him. He's dead. And forget about my leg, we've got bigger things to worry about", she said, again as much to herself as to the soldier. Suddenly Ellie felt exhausted. All the adrenaline had worn out and all the problems they still had started weighting her down. She looked around her as the men started taking apart the cover and building a stretcher for Wicki. They still had a lot of work to do.

... ... ...

Please, leave a review on your way out :)


	20. Chapter 19

**A/N: **So... It's 2:22 in the morning and I have just finished the ummm... Well, I can't remember how many chapters there have been so far, but anyway, here's a new one!

Some Donny/Ellie time here and very important happenings. Things clear up a little. I think this chappie turned out a little messy, but good enough to post. Let me know what you think!

... ... ...

It was cold. For a moment, it was all Ellie could think about and by reflex, she leaned toward the warm body next to her. The mentioned body shook a little and Ellie could hear a low chuckle. She frowned. Oh yeah. The cold wasn't her biggest problem after all.

"Mornin', miss Ellie", Donny said quietly. "You usually sleep longer."

Ellie snorted at the remark and buried her face to the crook of his neck. "It's fucking cold", she mumbled. "We need to get out of here."

"Yeah, it's gettin' pretty freezing at nights", Donny agreed. Ellie sighed and pushed herself up, surprised how dark it still was. It seemed like she really was up in the middle of the night. "Nature calls, gotta go", she mumbled, standing up on shaky legs. Right. She'd been shot. Great. Despite the pain, she managed to stumble out of the cover without crushing any of his comrades. The air outside immediately started pinching her cheeks and her breath evaporated the moment it left her lips. Making her way to a more private place, she even noticed a tiny bit of frost on the colorful carpet of leaves that covered the ground. They had to get home. But how?

Her leg hurt and she could feel a dull throb behind her tired eyes. Wicki. A soldier could easily live through being shot, but an infected wound... It was a fucking disaster. For all Ellie knew, Wicki could already be way out of their reach. It didn't seem fair. Wicki was one of the most loyal and trustworthy men she had ever worked with and he never flinched, even when facing what seemed like a certain death. Ellie could handle a man dying, but having to wait like this, not knowing if there was anything she could do, was nerve-wrecking.

When she got back to the cover, she stumbled on a root and fell flat on her face. She groaned and cursed heavily under her breath, but didn't bother getting up. Instead, she rolled onto her back and exhaled, watching the steam disappear into the dark night. For a long moment, she felt unreal.

"Did ya hurt yourself?" a voice asked quietly. Ellie twisted her head back to see Donny standing in front of the cover. She shook her head awkwardly. "Naw. Just thought I'd take a breather", she answered. "What are you doin' outside? You should have gone back to sleep."

"I couldn't sleep, so I took ya brother's guard shift", he said, walking to Ellie and sitting on the ground next to her. She folded her arms behind her head and sniffed. "Mickey's? Good. I bet he's stressed out of his mind right about now."

"Yeah, I bet you and the dickhead going at it all the time ain't too nice for him", Donny commented. Ellie looked back up to the starry sky. "Yeeeah."

A moment passed in a comfortable silence, before Donny asked: "How're you gonna deal with that?"

"I got no idea", Ellie instantly admitted. "Fuck, I got no fucking idea. It's driving me crazy. I ain't too good with this kinda relationship crap." Donny snorted in response. "You and me both."

"I ain't worrying too much about that right now, though, we got bigger problems", Ellie said, shrugging as best she could in her awkward position. Another moment of silence wrapped around them and Ellie shifted closer to the man. He was about the only thing she knew right now. She _got _him. He was clear and simple, determined to see their mission to the end and not to mention respect her authority and trust her unconditionally. As she trusted and respected him. And, well... Loved him. Her heart sunk a little at the thought. Love complicated everything. A million things could go wrong when it came to love. She looked up to Donny again and the sinking feeling returned - only this time there was a warmth she hadn't expected. She sighed. She had a lot to think about, a couple of issues to clear, but Donny was not one of them. Donny was keeping her sane. She chuckled lightly at the thought.

"What's funny?" the Jew asked, looking at her with those dark eyes, and Ellie's grin widened. "You are", she answered, sitting up. "I just realized loving you is the simplest thing in the world right now."

"Loving me?" Donny asked, lifting a brow. The corner of his mouth twitched. "Well, I'm a simple man."

"Yeah", Ellie laughed, shaking her head. "I ain't too complicated myself."

"Good."

Before she knew it, a pair of strong arms wrapped around her and she found herself from the man's lap. Her fingers tangled into his hair, her lips pressed against his and the cold melted from her skin. Donny's embrace was not quite strong enough to hurt, but it anchored her tightly into the heated moment, emptying her head of everything else. He tasted like sweat and smelled like blood, his hair was so dirty her hands got greasy and the dirt of his coat rubbed off on her already filthy shirt. Just moments ago she had felt unreal, but this was as real it would get.

When they finally had to separate, Ellie could only stare at the eyes that were steadily staring back at her. "You know, miss Ellie", Donny started, still holding her tight, "Whatever you choose to do about all this bullshit going on, I will follow you."

Ellie smiled a bit sadly and pressed her forehead against his. "I know you will. And I hope you will never regret it."

"Well, I know I won't", Donny grinned. "You ought to get some sleep now, Lieutenant. You're gonna have to be at your sharpest tomorrow."

Ellie moved to give him one more short kiss on the lips before getting up. Her leg protested angrily, but she did her best to ignore it. "See you in the morning, Sergeant Donowitz."

... ... ...

"Listen up", Ellie started, standing tall before the remaining basterds. "We came here on a simple mission. That mission was to find and release Lieutenant Aldo Raine from the hands of them goddamn krauts. Well, that mission of ours was a success. After that, we took on another mission, a bigger one, but just as simple - to kill the second Führer, Hans Landa. And Lord, did we kill him good."

She eyed around the men who were lined up, standing in attention, listening and sucking in every word she said. She took a couple of steps and linked her hands behind her back before continuing. "There ain't nothing left for us here and our next mission is to make it the hell out of this God forsaken country before the winter kills us all. Before that, however... We all need to deal with something. There's a comrade here, who most likely ain't gonna make it out of here with us. So, here's the deal. I ain't leaving Wicki. If any of you mutts wanna leave, I get that. You just walk out of here now. No questions asked. Walk. Now."

She waited, looking from a man to another and not a single one budged. Even Dom stood silently still. Ellie turned to look at her father, who was standing behind her like a statue, arms crossed over his chest, his expression unreadable. His stoicism didn't scare Ellie. He hadn't moved. That was all she needed.

"No less than what I expected", she said, turning back to the team. "We ain't leaving a man behind." She sniffed and walked another couple of steps, closing her eyes when a particularly nasty wave of pain spread from the wound. "Now... I don't know shit about infections, but even I can see we're days too late." I should have noticed earlier, a note she left unsaid. "But Wicki is the kinda man who knows we had to stick to our mission and keep it our top priority. He'll meet Landa in hell and he will enjoy that meeting. At ease, basterds. We're good."

... ... ...

Wicki was pale. Not just a tad whiter on the face, but sickly _pale_, with a greenish tint and dark circles around his eyes. He was burning hot and sweating under the blanket. The wound looked bad and smelled even worse, and if someone had doubted it before, they didn't doubt it anymore. He was dying.

Ellie sat next to him the whole day, whittling a piece of wood to keep herself occupied. The simple task gave her a lot more time to think than she would've liked. What if she had sent a group off to Paris, to get a medic? No. An American soldier in a Nazi-occupied town, looking for a doctor to help a guerrilla? No, no. It would have been way too risky and the they would've probably returned late anyway. What if she had noticed the infection earlier? Could she have done something about it? Well, she would've had more time to search for a doctor or medicines, but Wicki wouldn't have allowed them to stray from their mission. Still, it was bothering her.

"Miss Ellie", Stiglitz, who had been standing on the other side of the makeshift bed, said, "Rest a little. Your leg must hurt."

"Huh?" Ellie lifted her gaze and paused. She hadn't remembered her leg in hours. "Naw, I'm fine."

"You're not", Stiglitz stated. Ellie sighed and chuckled. "You can see straight through me, huh. Well, yeah. I ain't. But that's fine. Like I said, there ain't nothing I can do about this here situation right now."

They sunk back into the expecting silence and Ellie resumed her whittling. Utivich and Ulmer were sitting right outside the cover, playing cards. Hertz was following the game, probably not understanding any of it, but content with being a part of the thing. Donny was cleaning the guns and Mike was organizing his grenades and different explosives. He was displeased with how few he had left. Dom had decided to stay away from his sister, which suited the younger Raine better than well. She didn't know where he was, but she assumed he wouldn't go too far. Aldo was also sitting near the cover, seemingly deep in thought.

The sun started to roll downhill from its low peak and Wicki's breathing grew more and more unsteady. No one played cards anymore, Ellie didn't whittle. They were all just waiting. When the Corporal opened his foggy eyes, no one moved.

"Lieutenant", he mumbled, directing his unfocused gaze toward Ellie. "What is the status of the mission?"

"Completed", Ellie answered shortly, fighting to keep her voice steady. Wicki's eyelids drooped, but he forced his eyes open again. He looked past Ellie and she didn't turn to see what it was he was seeing. Then he turned his gaze to her again. "Then go home."

"Did you not hear me? We have completed our mission. We got all the time in the world", Ellie said, smiling slightly.

Wicki swallowed hard and struggled to stay conscious. All Ellie wanted to do, was to tell the man to close his eyes and let go of the world, but she didn't. He looked like he had something to say and it was his right to say it.

"When I agreed to join this mission, I decided it was something I could die for", Wicki finally managed to utter. "I have no regrets."

Now Ellie had to swallow the emotion that threatened to overflow. "Yeah", she said, clearing her voice when it cracked. "Yeah, we know. You played your part well, Corporal, and we ain't gonna forget that."

"Thank you... Miss Ellie", Wicki nodded slowly and looked past her again. What he said next would forever remain a mystery to Ellie, but Stiglitz seemed to catch his blurred German words and answered something in a quiet tone. It made Wicki smile. "Go home", he said then, to all of them.

"You, too, Wicki. We're all good", Ellie said. The man closed his eyes and Ellie swallowed hard. Her eyes were wet. Dammit. Suddenly Wicki's frown eased and the basterds could no longer hear the labored breaths.

The silence his death left behind felt overwhelming. The next sound to break the silence was Stiglitz leaving the cover and Ellie had to struggle not to let a single tear get past her eyelids. She had seen so much death, even killed countless men. She had lost other comrades, like Liebermann, but something about this moment made her feel the weight of death on her shoulders. She sighed and rubbed a hand over her face, wiping away a tear that had slipped on to her cheek despite her best efforts. Break down now and lose control of everything, she told herself, standing up. She met Donny's eyes briefly on her way out and offered him a small nod.

She was relieved to feel the cold breeze meet her the moment she stepped outside the small, stuffed space. Mike, Dom and Hertz were standing there. Dom's face was plank, but Mike, emotional as he was, looked sad and kind of thoughtful. Ellie could only guess what was going on in his head, but she knew he could handle it. Hertz looked more lost. The poor soldier was just staring blankly at something, and as Ellie followed his gaze, she understood why.

Stiglitz was kneeling on the ground by a big birch, digging with his bare hands. The ground was hard and cold, but the look on his face was determined enough to tell Ellie he wasn't going to stop until he was done. She hardened herself and limped by his side.

Stiglitz gave her a sideways glance, but stayed silent. Ellie didn't trust her voice enough to speak, so she just sunk her fingernails into the dirt and started digging. Soon they were joined by Donny and Utivich, while Aldo and Ulmer stood back with Dom, Mike and still staring Hertz. When Ellie's fingers were bleeding, three fingernails completely gone, Aldo pulled her up by the shoulders and took her place. Stiglitz was the only one who refused to take a break, digging on a steady pace far into the night.

When the basterds were finally standing around a freshly filled grave, the brisk morning had lit the forest with its soft light. It even felt a little warm after the silent, cold night and Ellie lifted her gaze to the treetops. Yeah. They could go home now.

Aldo stepped forward and knelt by the grave. He reached out a bloody finger and drew a symbol on the sand - the star of David. The next rain would wash it away, but it reminded them all about where they had come from.

"All right, then", Aldo said, standing up. "There ain't no good way to die, but goin' in a battle against a dick like Landa is probably one of the best choices. We all know Wicki was not the first, but we can hope there ain't gonna be many more after him. That's what he died believin'. Well, whatever the case, the next thing we're gonna do, we're gonna rest for a couple of hours. Then we're gonna move when the sun is up high. I'd imagine things are pretty chaotic on the Nazi-front right about now, so we might be able to sneak to Reims. There's a man who's gonna help us get outta here, fur sure. How's that sound."

"Yeah", Ellie croaked. "That's what we're gonna do."

... ... ...

Thanks for reading!


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